Systems and methods for seamlessly connecting to a user&#39;s device to share and display a relevant media asset

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are described for seamlessly connecting to a user&#39;s device in order to share and display a media asset. A media guidance application may determine that a first user has entered an environment of a second user (e.g., his/her mother&#39;s home). Stored on a first device of the first user may be a media asset (e.g., a photo album), which features an individual related to the second user (e.g., the second user&#39;s granddaughter). Based on the interaction data between the individual and the second user, the media guidance application may determine a likelihood that the second user will grant the access rights for the second device to the first user in order to view the media asset. In response to determining a high likelihood, the media guidance application may transmit the access rights to the first device and display the media asset on the second device.

BACKGROUND

In the related art, in response to receiving a request to share contentfrom a sending device, a system may share the content with receivingdevice(s) that are capable of loading the content and are in closeproximity to the sending device. However, the related art does notdetermine whether to connect the sending device with the receivingdevice based on the relationship of the users/owners of those respectivedevices. Furthermore, when sharing content from the sending device, withthe receiving device, the related art does not consider whether theshared content features an individual related to the owner of thereceiving device. The related art simply makes the connection based onthe proximity of the devices and the type of content (e.g., video,photo, etc.) of the shared content. This may cause security and privacyconcerns.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods are thus described that address these issues byseamlessly connecting devices based on relationships between the usersof the respective devices, and in some aspects, seamlessly connecting adevice to a user's device in order to share and display contentfeaturing an individual closely related to the user. The systems andmethods address the security and privacy of the user's device byestablishing automatic connections only when the user is familiar andcomfortable with the individual that is trying to connect to the user'sdevice. Furthermore, the systems and methods free the user from making amultitude of decisions on whether to allow connections, by determining alikelihood of whether the user would approve/deny a request to connect,and automatically connecting/blocking accordingly.

Suppose that a user enters an environment, such as the home of theuser's mother. A media guidance application on the user's smartphone maydetermine that the user has entered the home and frequently visits(e.g., on a daily basis). In response, the media guidance applicationmay identify other devices in the home (e.g., smart speaker, computer,television, etc.) that may belong to the user's mother. The mediaguidance application on one of the identified devices (e.g., television)may retrieve interaction data between the user and the user's mother.For example, the media guidance application may refer to phone calls,social media posts, emails, and texts, to determine a degree ofinteraction between the user and the user's mother. Based on the degreeof interaction and how often the user visits the home, the mediaguidance application on the television may determine to grant andtransmit access rights for the television to the user's smartphone.

In an alternate aspect, in response to determining that the user hasentered the home of the user's mother, the media guidance application onthe user's smartphone may determine that the user has recently capturedimages of an individual related to the user's mother. For example,recent pictures of the user's daughter may be stored on the user'ssmartphone. In response to determining that the user's daughter is thegranddaughter of the user's mother, the media guidance application onthe user's smartphone may send a request to connect to a device in theenvironment (e.g., a television) in order to share the images. In thisexample, the media guidance application on the television may retrieveinteraction data between the user's daughter and the user's mother todetermine a degree of interaction (e.g., how often the user's daughterand the user's mother interact). Based on the degree of interaction andhow recent the images are, the media guidance application on thetelevision may determine to grant and transmit access rights for thetelevision to the user's smartphone. In response to receiving the accessrights, the pictures may be shared and displayed on the television.

In some aspects, the media guidance application may determine that afirst user, carrying a first device comprising profile information ofthe first user, has entered an environment of a second user. Forexample, the first device may be the user's smartphone. The profileinformation of the user may include information about the user'spreferences, device settings, media viewing history, social media data,usage statistics, calendar, location history, etc. The globalpositioning system (GPS) on the first device may be used by the mediaguidance application to determine that the user has entered theenvironment (e.g., the house of the user's mother).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine, usingsensor circuitry, a first location of the first user and may determine asecond location of the second user. The sensor circuitry may be a GPSembedded in the first device of the first user that can providecoordinates of the first user. If the first device is connected toWi-fi, a triangulation process can be used to determine the relativeposition of the first user based on the strength of Wi-fi signalsreceived from multiple routers in the vicinity. The location of thesecond user may also be determined using a GPS embedded in a device ofthe second user, or Wi-fi triangulation.

In some embodiments, the first device of the first user may connect toan IP network that is associated with the second user or that a seconddevice of the second user is connected to. For example, the first devicemay connect to a router owned by the second user in order to access theInternet. This connection may signify that the first user has previouslyinteracted with the second user and thus, can be used to determine therelationship between the respective users.

The media guidance application may determine that the second location ofthe second user corresponds to a location of the environment (e.g.,his/her house). For example, if GPS coordinates are determined at thedevice of the second user and the approximate GPS coordinates of thesecond user's environment are retrieved (e.g., by determining theaddress of the second user's house), the media guidance application maydetermine that the respective GPS coordinates match. Therefore, thesecond user may be located in the environment. The media guidanceapplication may then determine that the first location of the first userand the second location of the second user are within a thresholdproximity. In some embodiments, the threshold proximity may berepresented by a circle with a diameter as large as the length of theenvironment (e.g., 30 feet). In response to determining that the firstlocation and the second location are within the threshold proximity, themedia guidance application may thus determine that the first locationcorresponds to the location of the environment.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve profileinformation of the second user. For example, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve the location history of the second user andcontact information. Based on the profile information of the seconduser, the media guidance application may determine that both theenvironment and the devices inside the environment are owned by thesecond user.

The media guidance application may, in response to determining that thefirst user has entered the environment, determine, based on the profileinformation of the first user, a frequency with which the first userenters the environment. For example, the media guidance application mayretrieve the location history of the first user. The location historymay indicate the number of times the first user has visited theenvironment. The location history may be divided in periods of time. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that the user hasentered the house ten times in the past month. Similarly, the mediaguidance application may determine that the user has entered the house1000 times since the location history began keeping record of the user'svisits.

The media guidance application may determine whether the frequency isgreater than a frequency threshold. In response to determining that thefrequency is greater than the frequency threshold, the media guidanceapplication may transmit a discovery message to identify devices in theenvironment. The frequency threshold may be a preset value representingthe minimum visits the first user must make in a period of time (e.g.,four visits per month) in order to automatically transmit a discoverymessage to the devices in the environment. The frequency threshold maybe retrieved from a media guidance database associated with the mediaguidance application. The first user may adjust the frequency thresholdto alter how often the first device may automatically transmit discoverymessages. For example, the first user may increase the frequencythreshold. As a result, in order for the first device to automaticallytransmit a discovery message, the first user must enter the environmentmore frequently. The second user may also set the frequency thresholdsuch that any user that enters the environment an amount of times lessthan the frequency threshold may not transmit discovery messages, and ifa discovery message is transmitted, the devices in the environment maynot respond to the discovery message based on the second user's setfrequency threshold. In the example previously given, the frequency ofthe user is ten visits per month, which is greater than the frequencythreshold of four visits per month. Therefore, the media guidanceapplication may transmit a discovery message.

The media guidance application may then identify a second device in theenvironment based on the discovery message. For example, a second device(e.g., a smart speaker) in the environment may receive the discoverymessage. In response, the second device may send an acknowledgmentmessage to the first device. The acknowledgment message may includeinformation about the device such as a device identifier (e.g., a devicename), a device type (e.g., multimedia system, phone, tablet, etc.),authorized users, the location of device in the environment, etc.,and/or timestamps signifying when the discovery message was received andwhen the acknowledgment was transmitted.

The media guidance application may then determine that the second useris authorized to grant access rights for the second device. For example,the media guidance application may parse the acknowledgment message todetermine a list of authorized users who may grant access rights for thesecond device. The access rights may be a digital key, or a set ofdigital keys, that allows a device to connect to the second device inorder to send and/or receive data (e.g., media content), and/or utilizea functionality of the second device (e.g., the ability to display videoor output audio). Without the access rights (e.g., the digital key), thesecond device may at most send an acknowledgement message to the firstdevice in response to receiving the discovery message. However,additional messages requesting data such as media content may be blockedby the second device.

The media guidance application may then retrieve interaction data of thefirst user and the second user. Interaction data may include anyinformation indicating communication between the first user and thesecond user, during a period of time. Interaction data may include, butis not limited to, call logs, social media posts, messages, sharedlocation history, emails, etc. The interaction data may also list allusers the second user has interacted with during the period of time.

The media guidance application may determine a degree of interactionbetween the first user and the second user based on the interactiondata. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinethe degree of interaction between the first user and the second user byfirst determining, based on the interaction data, a communicationfrequency of electronic communications, between the first user and thesecond user. Electronic communications include, but are not limited to,voice calls, video chats, social media posts, messages, emails, etc.Based on the communication frequency, the media guidance application maydetermine the degree of interaction. For example, the media guidanceapplication may identify, from the interaction data, the electroniccommunications exchanged between the first user and the second user in aperiod of time. Suppose the electronic communications between the seconduser and the first user include text messages exchanged and video chatsthat both participated in. The media guidance application may determinea length of each electronic communication of the electroniccommunications exchanged. For example, the length of the text messagesmay be described by the total number of words used in each of the textmessages exchanged and the length of the video chats may be described bythe total amount of time both the second user and the first user spenttalking to one another in their video chats.

The media guidance application may then determine a set of electroniccommunications. The set of electronic communications may includeelectronic communications whose respective lengths are greater than alength threshold. The length threshold may be a preset value determinedby the second user, representing a minimum length of an electroniccommunication in order to be considered significant. For example,exchanged text messages that only featured five words may not beconsidered significant communication. Accordingly, the length thresholdfor textual electronic communications may be 20 words. Similarly, thelength threshold for a video chat may be five minutes. The mediaguidance application may then determine a number of electroniccommunications in the set of electronic communications. Suppose a totalof thirty text messages and ten logs of video chats of a span of tendays are originally retrieved. Based on the length threshold, the mediaguidance application may determine that ten text messages feature atleast 20 words and four logs feature video chats that lasted at leastfive minutes. In this example, multiple types of electroniccommunications are considered. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may apply various weights to each type of electroniccommunication. For example, the media guidance application may weighvideo chats ten times greater than text messages because video chats aremore interactive than text messages. Accordingly, the total number ofelectronic communications may be weighted as fifty electroniccommunications (e.g., 10 text messages+4 logs of video chats multipliedby 10). Based on the number of electronic communications, or theweighted number of electronic communications, the media guidanceapplication may determine the communication frequency (e.g., daily,weekly, annually, etc.). For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that based on a span of ten days, the communication frequencyusing the weight electronic communications is five electroniccommunications per day.

The media guidance application may then determine a likelihood that thesecond user will grant the access rights for the second device to thefirst user, based on the degree of interaction and the frequency. Insome embodiments, when determining the likelihood that the second userwill grant the access rights for the second device to the first user,the media guidance application may retrieve a connection history of thesecond device that lists previous devices and their respective usersthat have either been granted or denied access rights to the seconddevice. For example, the connection history may list three entries, eachcomprising a timestamp at which a connection between a device and thesecond device was requested (e.g., 3/1/18 10:23:11 pm), an identifier ofthe device (e.g., “smartphone”), an identifier of the user of the device(e.g., “Bart Simpson”), additional details about the connection (e.g.,the frequency of visits of the respective user, calculated likelihood,degree of interaction, etc.), and a determination by the second user onwhether to grant access rights (e.g., granted/denied).

The media guidance application may generate a probabilistic model thatestimates likelihoods using, as training data, respective degrees ofinteraction and frequencies associated with the respective users thathave either been granted or denied access rights to the second device.For example, the media guidance application may utilize machine learningand/or deep learning algorithms (e.g., regression, classification) todetermine the likelihood. The media guidance application may use thelabeled entries from the connection history as training data to create aprobabilistic model that is a function of the degree of interaction andthe frequency. The media guidance application may then estimate, usingthe probabilistic model, the likelihood based on the degree ofinteraction and the frequency. For example, if the degree of interactionis 40% and the frequency is ten visits per month, the probabilisticmodel may output an estimate of 70%. This likelihood suggests that thereis a 70% chance that the second user will grant access rights to thefirst device, given the approvals/blocks the second user has establishedin the past.

Analogous to the second user deciding on whether to grant access rightsfor the second device to the first user, the media guidance applicationuses the threshold as a decision boundary to determine whether totransmit the access rights to the first user. Accordingly, the thresholdmay be a preset value set by the second user. If the second user assignsa higher threshold, receiving access rights from the second device mayrequire a greater likelihood. As a result, the first user may need tointeract more with the second user, or the frequency of visits may needto be higher. Suppose the threshold is 65%. Because the likelihood(e.g., 70%) is greater than the threshold, the media guidanceapplication may grant access rights for the second device to the firstdevice.

In some embodiments, when transmitting the access rights for the seconddevice to the first device, the media guidance application may determinethat the frequency is less than a second frequency threshold associatedwith a second level of access to the second device. In this case,suppose that the frequency threshold is a first frequency thresholdassociated with a first level of access to the second device and thatthe second level of access is greater than the first level of access.Each level of access may be associated with the ability to send and/orreceive messages, an ability to access content, and/or access to somefunctionality of the second device. For example, the first level ofaccess may allow the first device to send and/or receive messages fromthe second device. Thus, the two respective devices may shareinformation. The second level of access may allow the first device toutilize a functionality of the second device, such as the ability to usethe display screen of the second device. Each subsequent level of accessmay include all access rights from the previous level of access, alongwith additional access rights. Accordingly, each level of access mayhave its own frequency threshold (e.g., four visits per month, 11 visitsper month, 15 visits per month, etc.).

In response to determining that the frequency is less than the secondfrequency threshold, the media guidance application may transmit theaccess rights associated with the first level of access for the seconddevice to the first device and restrict the first device from the accessrights associated with the second level of access. As discussed in theprevious example, the media guidance application may determine that thefrequency (e.g., ten visits per month) is greater than the firstfrequency threshold (e.g., four visits per month). If the secondfrequency threshold has a value of 11 visits per month, the mediaguidance application may determine that the frequency is less than thesecond frequency threshold. In response, the media guidance applicationmay restrict the first device from the access rights associatedexclusively with the second level of access, and may grant access rightsto the first device that are associated with the first level of access.

In some embodiments, when transmitting the access rights for the seconddevice to the first device, the media guidance application maydetermine, based on the profile information of the first user, that anevent is occurring in the environment. In addition, both the first userand the second user may be participants of the event. For example, themedia guidance application of the first device may retrieve a calendarof the first user. The calendar may list an event that is to take placeduring the time the first user visits the environment. Suppose that theevent is a birthday party. The media guidance application may determinethat both the first user and the second user are going to participate inthe event (e.g., the second user may have invited the first user, orboth users may have accepted an invitation). The first user may want toconnect his/her smartphone to a smart speaker of the second user toshare and play songs on the smart speaker. In response to determiningthat the event is occurring in the environment, the media guidanceapplication may transmit the access rights for the second device to thefirst device.

In some embodiments, when transmitting the access rights for the seconddevice to the first device, the media guidance application mayautomatically establish a peer-to-peer connection between the firstdevice and the second device. In a peer-to-peer connection the firstdevice and the second device may be connected to each other via theInternet. It should be noted that information can be shared directlybetween the respective devices without the need of a central server tobridge the communication. The media guidance application may retrievethe access rights for the second device. The access rights allow accessto media content or functionality of the second device, and may send theaccess rights to the first device through the peer-to-peer connection.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may also prompt thesecond user with both a first selectable option to transmit the accessrights for the second device to the first device, and a secondselectable option to block the first device. For example, the mediaguidance application may generate these options on the display of thesecond device. In response to receiving a selection of the firstselectable option, the media guidance application may transmit theaccess rights for the second device to the first device. And in responseto receiving a selection of the second selectable option, the mediaguidance application may block the first device from connecting to thesecond device. For example, the media guidance application may create afirewall that blocks communications from the first device.

It should be noted that in the examples given previously, the processingfor the determination of values such as likelihood, degree ofinteraction, etc., can be performed by the media guidance application onvarious devices. For example, the media guidance application may performthe processing on the first device, the second device, a remote server,or a different device owned by the first or second user. For example, ifthe first user wishes to connect his smartphone to a smart speaker ownedby the second user, the selectable options on whether to allow the firstdevice to connect to the second device, may be displayed on a smartphoneowned by the second user. In this embodiment, a peer-to-peer networkconnection may be established between the smart speaker and thesmartphone of the second user. When the smart speaker receives adiscovery message, the smart speaker may forward the information in thediscovery message to the smartphone of the second user. Thus, ifmultiple devices in the environment respond to the discovery message ofthe first device, each device will not perform the same calculations andwaste processing. This allows all of the processing and decision-makingof the media guidance application to take place on a single device thatcan perform calculations quickly, or has access to additionalinformation about the interactions of the second user. For example, asmart TV of the second user may not have access to the social mediainteractions of the second user (e.g., the second user did not log on totheir social media account on the smart TV). Therefore, thedetermination of the degree of interaction is more efficiently performedon a device, such as the smartphone of the second user, which has accessto the interaction data associated with the social media account.

Alternatively, the processing may be divided across all devices in theenvironment. For example, the environment may include three devices ofthe second user: a smart speaker, a smart TV, and a smartphone. Apeer-to-peer network may connect all three devices. Each device may holdexclusive profile information of the second user. For example, the smartspeaker may hold audio samples of the second user speaking to the firstuser on various occasions. The audio samples may not be accessible onother devices, but may still be considered electronic communicationsbecause they are digital copies of communication between the respectiveusers. Similarly, the smart TV may be accompanied by an external camera(e.g., a Microsoft Kinect) or an embedded camera that may have storedvideos of the first user and the second user watching the smart TVtogether. Once again, the stored videos may not be accessible on otherdevices, but may still be considered electronic communication becausethey are digital copies of an interaction between the first user and thesecond user. Thus, each device may determine a unique degree ofinteraction, a unique likelihood, etc., using the steps describedpreviously, and may share the outputs (e.g., individual verdicts onwhether to transmit the access rights or block the first device) withthe devices in the peer-to-peer network. A voting system may then beutilized by the media guidance application to determine a final verdicton whether to transmit the access rights or block the first device(e.g., transmit the access rights if a majority of the devices decide totransmit).

In some aspects of the disclosure, the media guidance application maydetermine that a first user, carrying a first device (e.g., the firstuser's laptop) comprising profile information of the first user, hasentered an environment of a second user. As previously mentioned, theprofile information of the user may include information about the user'spreferences, device settings, media viewing history, social media data,usage statistics, calendar, location history, etc. The globalpositioning system (GPS) on the first device may be used by the mediaguidance application to determine that the user has entered theenvironment (e.g., the house of the user's mother).

The media guidance application may determine that a media asset createdby the first user (e.g., a photo, video, graphic, audio file, videogame, etc.) at a creation time within a threshold period of time fromthe present time is stored on the first device. Suppose that the firstuser was previously attending a soccer game and capturing videos of thesoccer game. One or more videos may be captured by the first user on thefirst device (e.g., the laptop) or a different device (e.g., asmartphone). If a video was captured on the different device, the videomust be made accessible on the first device. For example, the capturedvideo may be stored on the cloud or may be transferred and stored in thelocal storage of the first device. The video may also be stored in adevice owned by the first user that is not present at the environment(e.g., a set-top box of the first user). The first device may retrievethe video from the set-top box (e.g., via an application on the firstdevice that connects to the set-top box server). The media guidanceapplication may extract the metadata from the video to retrieveinformation such as the creation location (e.g., where the video wascaptured), the creation time (e.g., when the video was captured), themedia type (e.g., video, photo, audio, etc.), the media format (e.g.,mp4, avi, etc.), the content of video (e.g., a soccer game), video name,video size, etc. The threshold period of time from the present timerepresents a time window within which the media guidance applicationscans for media assets on the first device. For example, the thresholdperiod of time may be three hours. Accordingly, the media guidanceapplication may search the local and/or network storage of the firstdevice for media assets created between the present time and three hoursbefore the present time, by the first user. The first user may adjustthe threshold period of time to alter the range of time the mediaguidance application searches over for created media assets on the firstdevice. The second user may also set the threshold period of time tolimit the sharing to those media assets created within the thresholdperiod of time. Suppose the first user captured the video of the soccergame an hour before the first user arrived at the environment and thethreshold period of time is three hours. The media guidance applicationmay determine that the creation time of the video is within thethreshold period of time.

The media guidance application may then determine whether the mediaasset comprises content featuring an individual related to the seconduser. For example, the media guidance application may determine, fromthe metadata of the video, all individuals present in the video. Supposethe first user uploaded the video onto a social media platform (e.g.,Facebook). The first user may have manually tagged the individualsfeatured in the captured video. Therefore, the media guidanceapplication may identify a tagged individual and determine whether theindividual is related to the second user.

In some embodiments, in order to determine whether the media assetcomprises the content featuring the individual related to the seconduser, the media guidance application may identify, using at least one ofobject recognition and voice recognition, the individual in the mediaasset. For example, the media guidance application may implement animage processing algorithm that extracts a frame from the video andperforms facial recognition (e.g., via segmentation, classification,etc.) to identify faces in the video. The media guidance application mayalso implement voice recognition to identify a voice in the video.Suppose the media guidance application identifies images of a girlkicking a soccer ball in the captured video.

In response to identifying the individual, the media guidanceapplication may determine an identifier of the individual using a mediaguidance database. The media guidance database may be stored in a remoteserver that is accessible to the first device and the second device. Themedia guidance database may include information such as recorded callsof the first user and the second user, a list of individuals each userhas interacted with, reference images of the respective individuals(e.g., retrieved from social media profiles), and identifiers of therespective individuals (e.g., names, usernames, email addresses, phonenumbers). In the case that the media guidance application identifiesimages of an individual in the captured video of the soccer game, themedia guidance application may compare the identified images with thereference images in the media guidance database. If the media guidanceapplication finds an image match (e.g., via image processing techniquessuch as keypoint matching, coefficient of correlation, etc.), the mediaguidance application may determine an identifier of the individual(e.g., the name of the individual) based on the individual's socialmedia profile information. In the case that the media guidanceapplication extracts an audio clip of a voice in the captured video, themedia guidance application may compare the frequency and temporalinformation of the voice to the frequency and temporal information ofthe voices in the recorded calls in the media guidance database. If themedia guidance application finds a match, the media guidance applicationmay determine the identifier of the individual based on the contactinformation associated with the call (e.g., identify who was called).Suppose that the media guidance application determines, in response tofinding a facial match in the media guidance database, that the girlkicking the soccer ball is named Lisa Simpson.

In response to determining the identifier of the individual, the mediaguidance application may search the interaction data of the second userfor the identifier. For example, the media guidance application maysearch for the identifier “Lisa Simpson” in the contact list and/orsocial media friends list of the second user. In response to determiningthat the identifier of the individual is in the interaction data of thesecond user, the media guidance application may determine that theindividual is related to the second user. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that Lisa Simpson is listed in thecontact information of the second user and therefore is related to thesecond user (e.g., as an acquaintance, coworker, friend, etc.). In someembodiments, the media guidance application may search for a formalrelationship between the individual and the second user. For example,the media guidance application may retrieve the entry “Lisa Simpson” inthe contact information or social media friends list, and determine thatLisa Simpson is described as the second user's granddaughter.

In response to determining that the media asset comprises the contentfeaturing the individual related to the second user, the media guidanceapplication may transmit a discovery message to identify devices in theenvironment. The payload of the discovery message may includeinformation of the first device, an identifier of the first user, andmay specify that the first device has access to the media asset thatfeatures the individual related to the second user. The media guidanceapplication may then identify a second device in the environment basedon the discovery message. For example, a second device (e.g., a smartTV) in the environment may receive the discovery message. In response,the second device may send an acknowledgment message to the firstdevice. The acknowledgment message may include information about thedevice such as a device identifier (e.g., name), a device type (e.g.,multimedia system, phone, display, etc.), authorized users, etc., andtimestamps signifying when the discovery message was received and whenthe acknowledgment was transmitted.

The media guidance application may then determine that the second useris authorized to grant access rights for the second device. For example,the media guidance application may parse the acknowledgment message todetermine a list of authorized users who may grant access rights for thesecond device. The access rights may be a digital key, or a set ofdigital keys, that allows a device to connect to the second device inorder to send and/or receive data (e.g., media content), and/or utilizea functionality of the second device (e.g., the ability to display videoor output audio). Without the access rights (e.g., the digital key), thesecond device may at most send an acknowledgement message to the firstdevice in response to receiving the discovery message. However,additional messages requesting data such as media content may be blockedby the second device.

The media guidance application may receive, at the second device, arequest from the first device to connect and generate for display, onthe second device, the media asset. For example, the first user mayinitiate the request at the first device in order to share the video ofthe soccer game featuring the second user's granddaughter. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine a length ofthe media asset. Depending on the type of media asset (e.g., video,photo, audio, electronic book, etc.), the length of the media asset canbe described in various ways. For example, the length of a video may bemeasured in the number of frames in the video or the duration of thevideo. Similarly, a slideshow may be measured in the number of images inthe slideshow or the duration of the slideshow. Suppose the mediaguidance application determines that the captured video of the soccergame has a length of one minute.

The media guidance application may determine an amount of time that theindividual is featured in the content of the media asset, with respectto the length of the media asset. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the individual is present in the videofor 20 seconds (e.g., either through voice or visuals). Suppose thelength of the media asset was measured in frames (e.g., 1000 frames). Itshould be noted that the amount of time that the individual is featuredin the content of the media asset may also be measured by the number offrames (e.g., 333 frames). Similarly, if the media asset is a photoalbum of 100 photos, the amount of time the individual is featured maybe measured by the number of photos featuring the individual (e.g., 33photos). In each example, relative to the length of the media asset, theamount of time the user is present is approximately 33%. The mediaguidance application may then determine whether the amount of time isgreater than a prominence threshold. In response to determining that theamount of time is greater than the prominence threshold, the mediaguidance application may automatically initiate the request at the firstdevice to connect and generate for display, on the second device, themedia asset. This process of determining that prominence of theindividual may be implemented before the first device transmits thediscovery message. The first device may also transmit the amount of timethe individual is featured in the media asset in the discovery message.In some embodiments, the media guidance application may simply determinethat the individual is present in the content, irrespective ofprominence.

The media guidance application may then retrieve interaction data of theindividual and the second user. Interaction data may include anyinformation indicating communication between the individual and thesecond user, during a period of time. Interaction data may include, butis not limited to, call logs, social media posts, messages, sharedlocation history, emails, etc. The interaction data may also list allusers the second user has interacted with during the period of time.

The media guidance application may then determine a degree ofinteraction between the individual and the second user, based on theinteraction data. In some embodiments, the media guidance applicationmay determine the degree of interaction between the individual and thesecond user by first determining, based on the interaction data, acommunication frequency of electronic communications, between theindividual and the second user. Electronic communications include, butare not limited to, voice calls, video chats, social media posts,messages, emails, etc. Based on the communication frequency, the mediaguidance application may determine the degree of interaction. Forexample, the media guidance application may identify, from theinteraction data, the electronic communications exchanged between theindividual and the second user in a period of time. Suppose theelectronic communications between the second user and the granddaughterof the second user include text messages.

The media guidance application may then determine a set of electroniccommunications. The set of electronic communications may includeelectronic communications whose respective lengths are greater than alength threshold. The length threshold may be a preset value determinedby the second user, representing a minimum length of an electroniccommunication to be considered significant. For example, exchanged textmessages that only featured five words may not be considered significantcommunication. Accordingly, the length threshold for textual electroniccommunications may be 20 words. The media guidance application may thendetermine a number of electronic communications in the set of electroniccommunications. Suppose a total of thirty text messages are originallyretrieved. Based on the length threshold, the media guidance applicationmay determine that ten text messages feature at least 20 words. Based onthe number of electronic communications, the media guidance applicationmay determine the communication frequency (e.g., daily, weekly,annually, etc.). For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that based on a span of ten days, the communication frequencyis one electronic communication per day.

The media guidance application may then determine a likelihood that thesecond user will grant the access rights for the second device to thefirst user in order to view the media asset, based on the degree ofinteraction and the creation time of the media asset. The likelihood mayalso be a quantitative or qualitative value representing a probabilitythat the second user will or will not grant the access rights for thesecond device to the first user. It should be noted that the thresholdperiod of time may be a long period of time (e.g., one year).Accordingly, a captured video of a soccer game that was created sevenmonths before the present time may not be as relevant to the second useras a captured video of a soccer game that was created two days beforethe present time. Alternatively, the threshold period of time may be theamount of time that has passed since the first user and the second userpreviously interacted, or the amount of time that has passed since thefirst device and a device owned by the second user last connected. Forexample, if the respective users met two weeks prior, the thresholdperiod of time may be two weeks and all media within the two-week periodmay be relevant for sharing amongst the two users.

In some embodiments when determining the likelihood that the second userwill grant the access rights for the second device to the first user,the media guidance application may retrieve a connection history of thesecond device that lists previous devices and their respective usersthat have either been granted or denied access rights to the seconddevice. For example, the connection history may list three entries, eachcomprising a timestamp at which a connection between a device and thesecond device was requested (e.g., 3/1/18 10:23:11 pm), an identifier ofthe device (e.g., “smartphone”), an identifier of the user of the device(e.g., “Bart Simpson”), additional details about the connection (e.g.,an identifier of the individual in the media asset, calculatedlikelihood, degree of interaction, creation time of media asset, etc.),and a determination by the second user on whether to grant access rights(e.g., granted/denied).

The media guidance application may generate a probabilistic model thatestimates likelihoods using, as training data, respective degrees ofinteraction and creation times associated with the respective users thathave either been granted or denied access rights to the second device.For example, the media guidance application may utilize machine learningand/or deep learning algorithms (e.g., regression, classification) todetermine the likelihood. The media guidance application may use thelabeled entries from the connection history as training data to create aprobabilistic model that is a function of the degree of interaction andthe creation time of the media asset. The media guidance application maythen estimate, using the probabilistic model, the likelihood based onthe degree of interaction and the creation time. For example, if thedegree of interaction is 40% and the creation time is one hour beforethe present time, the probabilistic model may output an estimate of 70%.This likelihood suggests that there is a 70% chance that the second userwould grant access rights to the first device, given theapprovals/blocks the second user has established in the past.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may additionallygenerate a probabilistic model using the type of media (e.g., photos,videos, audio files, etc.) previously shared across devices as trainingdata. For example, the media guidance application may determine thatvarious users have attempted to share a total of 100 photos with thesecond user. Of the 100, 70 photos were successfully granted accessrights for and shared. As a result, the media guidance application maydetermine that there is a 70% chance that the second user will grantaccess rights for photos. This percentage may then be used as anadditional parameter when determining whether to grant access rights tothe first device (e.g., whether the media asset the first user wishes toshare is a type of media the second user prefers).

The media guidance application may then, in response to determining thatthe likelihood is greater than a threshold, transmit the access rightsfor the second device to the first device. Analogous to the second userdeciding on whether to grant access rights for the second device to thefirst user, the media guidance application uses the threshold as adecision boundary to determine whether to transmit the access rights tothe first user. Accordingly, the threshold may be a preset value set bythe second user. If the second user assigns a higher threshold,receiving access rights from the second device may require a greaterlikelihood. As a result, the individual may need to interact more withthe second user, or the creation time may need to be closer to thepresent time. Suppose the threshold is 65%. Because the likelihood(e.g., 70%) is greater than the threshold, the media guidanceapplication may grant access rights for the second device to the firstdevice.

In some embodiments, when transmitting the access rights for the seconddevice to the first device, the media guidance application may determinethat the likelihood is less than a second threshold associated with asecond level of access to the second device. In this case, suppose thatthe threshold is a first threshold associated with a first level ofaccess to the second device and that the second level of access isgreater than the first level of access. Each level of access may beassociated with the ability to send and/or receive messages, an abilityto access content, and/or access to some functionality of the seconddevice. For example, the first level of access may allow the firstdevice to send and/or receive messages from the second device. Thus, thetwo respective devices may share information. The second level of accessmay allow the first device to utilize a functionality of the seconddevice such as the ability to use the display screen of the seconddevice. Each subsequent level of access may include all access rightsfrom the previous level of access, along with additional access rights.Accordingly, each level of access may have its own threshold (e.g., 30%,40%, etc.).

In response to determining that the likelihood is less than the secondthreshold, the media guidance application may transmit the access rightsassociated with the first level of access for the second device to thefirst device and restrict the first device from the access rightsassociated with the second level of access. As discussed in the previousexample, the media guidance application may determine that thelikelihood (e.g., 70%) is greater than the first threshold (e.g., 65%).If the second threshold has a value of 80%, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the likelihood is less than the secondthreshold. In response, the media guidance application may restrict thefirst device from the access rights associated exclusively with thesecond level of access, and may grant access rights to the first devicethat are associated with the first level of access.

In some embodiments, when transmitting the access rights for the seconddevice to the first device, the media guidance application mayautomatically establish a peer-to-peer connection between the firstdevice and the second device. In a peer-to-peer connection, the firstdevice and the second device may be connected to each other via theInternet. It should be noted that information can be shared directlybetween the respective devices without the need of a central server tobridge the communication. The media guidance application may retrievethe access rights for the second device which allow access to mediacontent or functionality of the second device, and may send the accessrights to the first device through the peer-to-peer connection.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may automaticallytransmit the access rights for the second device to the first device inresponse to determining that the individual has entered the environment.For example, if the granddaughter of the second user enters theenvironment, and the media guidance application determines that thecaptured video of the soccer game features the granddaughter of thesecond user (i.e., the individual in the media asset is related to thesecond user), the media guidance application may automatically transmitaccess rights to the first device.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may automaticallytransmit the access rights for the second device to the first device inresponse to detecting speech, from the second user, referencing thecontent of the media asset. Suppose that the second user speaks to thefirst user and asks, “how was the soccer game?”. The media guidanceapplication may detect the voice of the second user and identify, usingvoice recognition and audio clip references from the media guidancedatabase, that the voice is of the second user. Furthermore, themetadata of the media asset may include an identifier “soccer game,”which may be determined by using objection recognition on a frame of themedia asset, or by the name and/or description of the media asset. Themedia guidance application may determine that the second user referencedthe identifier of the media asset and may automatically transmit theaccess rights, prior to determining the degree of interaction betweenthe individual and the second user. Alternatively, the second user mayask, “how is my granddaughter?”. In this scenario, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the media asset features thegranddaughter of the second user. In response, the media guidanceapplication may automatically transmit the access rights for the seconddevice, to the first device.

The media guidance application may then generate for display the mediaasset on the second device. For example, the media guidance applicationmay send the media asset to the second device via the peer-to-peerconnection. The media guidance application may then generate for displaythe media asset on the second device.

In some embodiments, in response to determining that the first user hasbeen granted access rights, the media guidance application may generatean access pass for the first user and transmit the access pass to thefirst device. The access pass may allow the first user to access thesecond device during future visits without having the media guidanceapplication re-determine the likelihood of the second user grantingaccess rights to the first user. This may conserve processing powerbecause the media guidance application will not constantly re-determinelikelihoods for users that have previously been granted access rights.Furthermore, the access pass may be specific to the first user and/orthe first device of the first user. Using encryption methods, the mediaguidance application may prevent the access pass from being copied anddistributed.

In some aspects, the embodiments described above which allow the firstuser to gain access rights to the second device may be flipped. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that a first usercarrying a first device has entered an environment of a second user. Inresponse to determining that the first user has entered the environment,the media guidance application may identify a second device of thesecond user that is attempting to connect and access media stored on thefirst device. The media guidance application may then determine alikelihood that the first user will grant the access rights for thefirst device to the second user, based on interaction data between thefirst user and the second user, and in response to determining that thelikelihood is greater than a threshold, the media guidance applicationmay transmit the access rights for the first device to the seconddevice. The first user may also have the ability to deny access tospecific media assets stored on the first device.

In summary, for the first aspects discussed, the media guidanceapplication may determine that a first user carrying a first device hasentered an environment. In response to determining that the first userhas entered the environment, the media guidance application maydetermine a frequency with which the first user enters the environment.In response to determining that the frequency is above a frequencythreshold, the media guidance application may identify a second devicein the environment. The media guidance application may further determinethat a second user is authorized to grant access rights for the seconddevice. The media guidance application may then determine a likelihoodthat the second user will grant the access rights for the second deviceto the first user, based on interaction data between the first user andthe second user, and in response to determining that the likelihood isgreater than a threshold, the media guidance application may transmitthe access rights for the second device to the first device.

In the alternative aspects discussed, the media guidance application maydetermine that a first user carrying a first device has entered anenvironment of a second user. The media guidance application maydetermine that a media asset recently created by the first user isstored on the first device. In response to determining that the mediaasset comprises of content featuring an individual related to the seconduser, the media guidance application may identify, in the environment, asecond device that the second user is authorized to grant access rightsfor. The media guidance application may receive, at the second device, arequest from the first device to connect and generate for display, onthe second device, the media asset. In response to receiving therequest, the media guidance application may retrieve interaction databetween the individual and the second user and determine a likelihoodthat the second user will grant the access rights for the second deviceto the first user in order to view the media asset, based on interactiondata. In response to determining that the likelihood is greater than athreshold, the media guidance application may transmit the access rightsfor the second device to the first device and generate, for display, themedia asset on the second device.

It should be noted that the systems, methods, apparatuses, and/oraspects described above may be applied to, or used in accordance with,other systems, methods, apparatuses, and/or aspects described in thisdisclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of a scenario for seamlesslyconnecting devices based on relationships between the users of therespective devices, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative example of a scenario for seamlesslyconnecting to a user's device in order to share and display a mediaasset featuring an individual closely related to the user, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIGS. 3 and 4 show illustrative examples of display screens generated bya media guidance application in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment device inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an illustrative process for seamlesslyconnecting to a user's device in order to share and display a mediaasset featuring an individual closely related to the user, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process for seamlesslyconnecting to a user's device in order to share and display a mediaasset featuring an individual closely related to the user, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process for determiningwhether the media asset comprises the content featuring the individualrelated to the second user, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process forautomatically initiating the request at the first device to connect andgenerate for display, on the second device, the media asset, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process fordetermining the degree of interaction, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process fortransmitting the access rights of a specific level of access, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process forestimating, using a probabilistic model, the likelihood, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of an illustrative process for seamlesslyconnecting devices based on relationships between the users of therespective devices, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process seamlesslyconnecting devices based on relationships between the users of therespective devices, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process fortransmitting the access rights based on the occurrence of an event atthe environment, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process forestablishing a peer-to-peer connection in order to transmit accessrights, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process for promptingthe second user to select between options to transmit the access rightsor block the first device, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure; and

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process fordetermining whether the first user is in the environment, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods are described herein for seamlessly connectingdevices based on relationships between the users of the respectivedevices, and in some aspects, seamlessly connecting a device to a user'sdevice in order to share and display content featuring an individualclosely related to the user.

Suppose that a user enters an environment, such as the home of theuser's mother. A media guidance application on the user's smartphone maydetermine that the user has entered the home and frequently visits(e.g., on a daily basis). In response, the media guidance applicationmay identify other devices in the home (e.g., smart speaker, computer,television, etc.) that may belong to the user's mother. The mediaguidance application on one of the identified devices (e.g., television)may retrieve interaction data between the user and the user's mother.For example, the media guidance application may refer to phone calls,social media posts, emails, and texts, to determine a degree ofinteraction between the user and the user's mother. Based on the degreeof interaction and how often the user visits the home, the mediaguidance application on the television may determine to grant andtransmit access rights for the television to the user's smartphone.

In an alternate aspect, in response to determining that the user hasentered the home of the user's mother, the media guidance application onthe user's smartphone may determine that the user has recently capturedimages of an individual related to the user's mother. For example,recent pictures of the user's daughter may be stored on the user'ssmartphone. In response to determining that the user's daughter is thegranddaughter of the user's mother, the media guidance application onthe user's smartphone may send a request to connect to a device in theenvironment (e.g., a television) in order to share the images. In thisexample, the media guidance application on the television may retrieveinteraction data between the user's daughter and the user's mother todetermine a degree of interaction (e.g., how often the user's daughterand user's mother interact). Based on the degree of interaction and howrecent the images are, the media guidance application on the televisionmay determine to grant and transmit access rights for the television tothe user's smartphone. In response to receiving the access rights, thepictures may be shared and displayed on the television.

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of a scenario for seamlesslyconnecting devices based on relationships between the users of therespective devices, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. The media guidance application may be executed by controlcircuitry on outsider device 104, environment device 108, environmentdevice 110, environment device 112, on a remote server, or a combinationof these devices, as will be described with respect to FIGS. 3-6.Environment 100 is a setting where multiple devices owned by User 106can be found.

As shown in FIG. 1, the media guidance application may determine thatUser 102, carrying outsider device 104 comprising profile information ofUser 102, has entered Environment 100. It should be noted thatEnvironment 100 may belong to User 106. Furthermore, outsider device 104may be the User 102's smartphone. The profile information of User 102may include information about User 102's preferences, device settings,media viewing history, social media data, usage statistics, calendar,location history, etc. The global positioning system (GPS) on outsiderdevice 104 may be used by the media guidance application to determinethat User 102 has entered Environment 100 (e.g., the house of the user'sfriend).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine, usingsensor circuitry, a first location of User 102 and may determine asecond location of User 106. The sensor circuitry may be a GPS embeddedin outsider device 104 of User 102 that can provide coordinates of User102. If outsider device 104 is connected to Wi-fi, a triangulationprocess can be used to determine the relative position of User 102,based on Wi-fi signal strength received from multiple routers in thevicinity. The location of User 106 may also be determined using a GPSembedded in a device of User 106, or Wi-fi triangulation.

The media guidance application may determine that the second location ofUser 106 corresponds to a location of Environment 100 (e.g., his/herhouse). For example, if GPS coordinates are determined at theenvironment device 112 of User 106 and the approximate GPS coordinatesof Environment 100 are retrieved (e.g., by determining the address ofUser 106's house), the media guidance application may determine that therespective GPS coordinates match. Therefore, User 106 may be located inEnvironment 100. The media guidance application may then determine thatthe first location of User 102 and the second location of User 106 arewithin a threshold proximity. The threshold proximity represents amaximum distance or displacement that User 102 can be away from User 106in order to be considered to be in the same environment. In someembodiments, the threshold proximity may be represented by a circle witha diameter as large as the length of Environment 100 (e.g., 30 feet). Inresponse to determining that the first location and the second locationare within the threshold proximity, the media guidance application maythus determine that the first location corresponds to the location ofEnvironment 100.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve profileinformation of User 106. For example, the media guidance application mayretrieve the location history of User 106 and contact information. Basedon the profile information of User 106, the media guidance applicationmay determine that both Environment 100 and the devices insideEnvironment 100 are owned by User 106.

The media guidance application on outsider device 104 may, in responseto determining that User 102 has entered Environment 100, determine,based on the profile information of User 102, a frequency with whichUser 102 enters Environment 100. For example, the media guidanceapplication on outsider device 104 may retrieve the location history ofUser 102. The location history may indicate the number of times User 102has visited Environment 100. The location history may be divided intoperiods of time. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the user has entered the house ten times in the pastmonth. Similarly, the media guidance application may determine that theuser has entered the house 1000 times since the location history begankeeping a record of the user's visits.

The media guidance application may determine whether the frequency isgreater than a frequency threshold. In response to determining that thefrequency is greater than the frequency threshold, the media guidanceapplication may transmit a discovery message to identify devices inEnvironment 100. The frequency threshold may be a preset valuerepresenting the minimum visits User 102 must make in a period of time(e.g., four visits per month) in order to automatically transmit adiscovery message to the devices in Environment 100. The frequencythreshold may be retrieved from a media guidance database associatedwith the media guidance application. User 102 may adjust the frequencythreshold to alter how often outsider device 104 may automaticallytransmit discovery messages. For example, User 102 may increase thefrequency threshold. As a result, in order for outsider device 104 toautomatically transmit a discovery message, User 102 must enterEnvironment 100 more frequently. User 106 may also set the frequencythreshold such that any user that enters Environment 100 an amount oftimes less than the frequency threshold may not transmit discoverymessages, and if a discovery message is transmitted, the devices inEnvironment 100 may not respond to the discovery message based on User106's set frequency threshold. In the example previously given, thefrequency of the user is ten visits per month, which is greater than thefrequency threshold of four visits per month. Therefore, the mediaguidance application on outsider device 104 may transmit a discoverymessage.

The media guidance application may then identify environment device 108in Environment 100 based on the discovery message. For example,environment device 108 (e.g., a smart speaker) in Environment 100 mayreceive the discovery message. In response, environment device 108 maysend an acknowledgment message to outsider device 104. Theacknowledgment message may include information about the device such asa device identifier (e.g., a device name), a device type (e.g.,multimedia system, phone, tablet, etc.), authorized users, the locationof device in Environment 100, etc., and timestamps signifying when thediscovery message was received and when the acknowledgment wastransmitted.

The media guidance application on outsider device 104 may then determinethat User 106 is authorized to grant access rights for environmentdevice 108. For example, the media guidance application may parse theacknowledgment message to determine a list of authorized users who maygrant access rights for environment device 108. The access rights may bea digital key, or a set of digital keys, that allows a device to connectto environment device 108 in order to send and/or receive data (e.g.,media content), and/or utilize a functionality of environment device 108(e.g., the ability to output audio or communicate with other smartdevices). Without the access rights (e.g., the digital key), environmentdevice 108 may at most send an acknowledgement message to outsiderdevice 104 in response to receiving the discovery message. However,additional messages requesting data such as media content may be blockedby environment device 108.

The media guidance application on environment device 108 may thenretrieve interaction data of User 102 and User 106. Interaction data mayinclude any information indicating communication between User 102 andUser 106, during a period of time. Interaction data may include, but isnot limited to, call logs, social media posts, messages, shared locationhistory, emails, etc. The interaction data may also list all users User106 has interacted with during the period of time.

The media guidance application on environment device 108 may determine adegree of interaction between User 102 and User 106 based on theinteraction data. The degree of interaction is a quantitative orqualitative value that represent the magnitude (e.g., frequency oramount) of interaction between User 102 and User 106. For example, thedegree of interaction may be a fraction or percentage (e.g., 10%)representing the total number of messages exchanged between User 102 andUser 106, relative to the total number of messages User 106 hasexchanged with all users listed in the interaction data of User 106. Thedegree of interaction may also be a frequency (e.g., 5 messages per day)representing the number of messages exchanged between User 102 and User106 in a period of time. In terms of a qualitative value, the degree ofinteraction may be one of several interaction types (e.g., nointeraction, minimal interaction, below average interaction, averageinteraction, above average interaction, significant interaction, etc.)or interaction frequencies (e.g., rare interaction, occasionalinteraction, frequent interaction, etc.).

In some embodiments the media guidance application may determine thedegree of interaction between User 102 and User 106 by firstdetermining, based on the interaction data, a communication frequencybetween User 102 and User 106, which represents how often User 102 andUser 106 have communicated using electronic communications. Electroniccommunications include, but are not limited to, voice calls, videochats, social media posts, messages, emails, etc. Based on thecommunication frequency, the media guidance application may determinethe degree of interaction. For example, the media guidance applicationmay identify, from the interaction data, the electronic communicationsexchanged between User 102 and User 106 in a period of time. Suppose theelectronic communications between User 106 and User 102 include textmessages exchanged and video chats that both participated in. The mediaguidance application may determine a length of each electroniccommunication of the electronic communications exchanged. For example,the length of the text messages may be described by the total number ofwords used in each of the text messages exchanged and the length of thevideo chats may be described by the total amount of time both User 106and User 102 spent talking to one another in their video chats.

The media guidance application may then determine a set of electroniccommunications that includes electronic communications whose respectivelengths are greater than a length threshold. The length threshold may bea preset value determined by User 106, representing a minimum length ofan electronic communication to be considered significant. For example,exchanged text messages that only featured five words may not beconsidered significant communication. Accordingly, the length thresholdfor textual electronic communications may be 20 words. Similarly, thelength threshold for a video chat may be five minutes. The mediaguidance application may then determine a number of electroniccommunications in the set of electronic communications. Suppose a totalof thirty text messages and ten logs of video chats of a span of tendays are originally retrieved. Based on the length threshold, the mediaguidance application may determine that ten text messages feature atleast 20 words and four logs feature video chats that lasted at leastfive minutes. In this example, multiple types of electroniccommunications are considered. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may apply various weights to each type of electroniccommunication. For example, the media guidance application may weighvideo chats ten times greater than text messages because video chats aremore interactive than text messages. Accordingly, the total number ofelectronic communications may be weighted as fifty electroniccommunications (e.g., 10 text messages+4 logs of video chats multipliedby 10). Based on the number of electronic communications, or theweighted number of electronic communications, the media guidanceapplication may determine the communication frequency (e.g., daily,weekly, annually, etc.). For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that based on a span of ten days, the communication frequencyusing the weight electronic communications is five electroniccommunications per day.

The media guidance application may then determine a likelihood that User106 will grant the access rights for environment device 108 to User 102,based on the degree of interaction and the frequency. The likelihood mayalso be a quantitative (e.g., 30%, 40%, etc.) or qualitative (e.g., “notlikely,” “likely,” “very likely,” etc.) value representing a probabilitythat User 106 will or will not grant the access rights for environmentdevice 108 to User 102. The threshold represents a minimum likelihoodrequired to transmit the access rights. Thus, in response to determiningthat the likelihood is greater than a threshold, the media guidanceapplication may transmit the access rights for environment device 108 tooutsider device 104.

In some embodiments when determining the likelihood that User 106 willgrant the access rights for environment device 108 to User 102, themedia guidance application may retrieve a connection history ofenvironment device 108 that lists previous devices and their respectiveusers that have either been granted or denied access rights toenvironment device 108. For example, the connection history may listthree entries, each comprising a timestamp at which a connection betweena device and environment device 108 was requested (e.g., 3/1/18 10:23:11pm), an identifier of the device (e.g., “smartphone”), an identifier ofthe user of the device (e.g., “Bart Simpson”), additional details aboutthe connection (e.g., the frequency of visits of the respective user,calculated likelihood, degree of interaction, etc.), and a determinationby User 106 on whether to grant access rights (e.g., granted/denied).

The media guidance application on environment device 108 may generate aprobabilistic model that estimates likelihoods using, as training data,respective degrees of interaction and frequencies associated with therespective users that have either been granted or denied access rightsto environment device 108. For example, the media guidance applicationmay utilize machine learning and/or deep learning algorithms (e.g.,regression, classification) to determine the likelihood. The mediaguidance application may use the labeled entries from the connectionhistory as training data to create a probabilistic model that is afunction of the degree of interaction and the frequency. The mediaguidance application may then estimate, using the probabilistic model,the likelihood based on the degree of interaction and the frequency. Forexample, if the degree of interaction is 40% and the frequency is tenvisits per month, the probabilistic model may output an estimate of 70%.This likelihood suggests that there is a 70% chance that User 106 wouldgrant access rights to outsider device 104, given the approvals/blocksUser 106 has established in the past.

Analogous to User 106 deciding on whether to grant access rights forenvironment device 108 to User 102, the media guidance application usesthe threshold as a decision boundary to determine whether to transmitthe access rights to User 102. Accordingly, the threshold may be apreset value set by User 106. If User 106 assigns a higher threshold,receiving access rights from environment device 108 may require agreater likelihood. As a result, User 102 may need to interact more withUser 106, or the frequency of visits may need to be higher. Suppose thethreshold is 65%. Because the likelihood (e.g., 70%) is greater than thethreshold, the media guidance application may grant access rights forenvironment device 108 to outsider device 104.

In some embodiments, when transmitting the access rights for environmentdevice 108 to outsider device 104, the media guidance application maydetermine that the frequency is less than a second frequency thresholdassociated with a second level of access to environment device 108. Inthis case, suppose that the frequency threshold is a first frequencythreshold associated with a first level of access to environment device108 and that the second level of access is greater than the first levelof access. Each level of access may be associated with the ability tosend and/or receive messages, an ability to access content, and/oraccess to some functionality of environment device 108. For example, thefirst level of access may allow outsider device 104 to send and/orreceive messages from environment device 108. Thus, the two respectivedevices may share information. The second level of access may allowoutsider device 104 to utilize a functionality of environment device 108such as the ability to use the display screen of environment device 108.Each subsequent level of access may include all access rights from theprevious level of access, along with additional access rights.Accordingly, each level of access may have its own frequency threshold(e.g., four visits per month, 11 visits per month, 15 visits per month,etc.).

In response to determining that the frequency is less than the secondfrequency threshold, the media guidance application may transmit theaccess rights associated with the first level of access for environmentdevice 108 to outsider device 104 and restrict outsider device 104 fromthe access rights associated with the second level of access. Asdiscussed in the previous example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the frequency (e.g., ten visits per month) is greaterthan the first frequency threshold (e.g., four visits per month). If thesecond frequency threshold has a value of 11 visits per month, the mediaguidance application may determine that the frequency is less than thesecond frequency threshold. In response, the media guidance applicationmay restrict outsider device 104 from the access rights associatedexclusively with the second level of access, and may grant access rightsto outsider device 104 that are associated with the first level ofaccess.

In some embodiments, when transmitting the access rights for environmentdevice 108 to outsider device 104, the media guidance application maydetermine, based on the profile information of User 102, that an eventis occurring in Environment 100 in which both User 102 and User 106 areparticipants. For example, the media guidance application of outsiderdevice 104 may retrieve a calendar of User 102. The calendar may list anevent that is to take place during the time User 102 visits Environment100. Suppose that the event is a birthday party. The media guidanceapplication may determine that both User 102 and User 106 are going toparticipate in the event (e.g., User 106 may have invited User 102, orboth users may have accepted an invitation). User 102 may want toconnect his/her smartphone to a smart speaker of User 106 to share andplay songs on the smart speaker. In response to determining that theevent is occurring in Environment 100, the media guidance applicationmay transmit the access rights for environment device 108 to outsiderdevice 104.

In some embodiments, when transmitting the access rights for environmentdevice 108 to outsider device 104, the media guidance application mayautomatically establish a peer-to-peer connection between outsiderdevice 104 and environment device 108. In a peer-to-peer connectionoutsider device 104 and environment device 108 may be connected to eachother via the Internet. It should be noted that information can beshared directly between the respective devices without the need of acentral server to bridge the communication. The media guidanceapplication may retrieve, for environment device 108, the access rightsthat allow access to media content or functionality of environmentdevice 108, and may send the access rights to outsider device 104through the peer-to-peer connection.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may also prompt User106 with both a first selectable option to transmit the access rightsfor environment device 108 to outsider device 104, and a secondselectable option to block outsider device 104. For example, the mediaguidance application may generate these options on the display ofenvironment device 112. In response to receiving a selection of thefirst selectable option, the media guidance application may transmit theaccess rights for environment device 108 to outsider device 104. And inresponse to receiving a selection of the second selectable option, themedia guidance application may block outsider device 104 from connectingto environment device 108. For example, the media guidance applicationmay create a firewall that blocks communications from outsider device104.

It should be noted that in the examples given previously, the processingfor the determination of values such as likelihood, degree ofinteraction, etc., can be performed by the media guidance application onvarious devices. For example, the media guidance application may performthe processing on outsider device 104, environment device 108, a remoteserver, or a different device owned by the first or second user. Forexample, if User 102 wishes to connect his/her outsider device 104(e.g., a smartphone) to environment device 108 (e.g., a smart speaker)owned by User 106, the selectable options on whether to allow outsiderdevice 104 to connect to environment device 108, may instead bedisplayed on environment device 112 (e.g., a smartphone owned by User106). In this embodiment, a peer-to-peer network connection may beestablished between environment device 108 and environment device 112.When environment device 108 receives a discovery message, environmentdevice 108 may forward the information in the discovery message toenvironment device 112. Thus, if multiple devices in Environment 100respond to the discovery message of outsider device 104, each devicewill not perform the same calculations and waste processing. This allowsall processing and decision-making of the media guidance application totake place on a single device (e.g., environment device 112) that canperform calculations quickly, or has access to additional informationabout the interactions of User 106. For example, environment device 110(e.g., a smart TV) may not have access to the social media interactionsof User 106 (e.g., User 106 did not log on to their social media accounton the smart TV). Therefore, the determination of the degree ofinteraction is more efficiently performed on a device, such asenvironment device 112, which has access to the interaction dataassociated with the social media account.

In some embodiments, there may exist a dedicated device such as digitalmedia adapter 113 that receives connection requests from outsider device104, responds to the discovery message, performs the processingnecessary to determine the likelihood of granting access to variousenvironment devices, and enables connection(s) between outside device104 and environment device(s). The digital media adapter 113 may serveas a security measure that prevents direct access to the environmentdevices from untrusted users and may also determine the most appropriatedevices in the environment for performing the actions outsider device104 may seek to perform. For example, if the outsider device 104 willtransmit a song for sharing purposes, the media guidance application ondigital media adapter 113 may forward the song to environment device 108(e.g., a smart speaker).

Alternatively, the processing may be divided across all devices inEnvironment 100. For example, Environment 100 may include three devicesof User 106: environment device 108 (e.g., a smart speaker), environmentdevice 110 (e.g., a smart TV), and environment device 112 (e.g., asmartphone). A peer-to-peer network may connect all three devices. Eachdevice may hold exclusive profile information of User 106. For example,environment device 108 may hold audio samples of User 106 speaking toUser 102 on various occasions. The audio samples may not be accessibleon other devices, but may still be considered electronic communicationsbecause they are digital copies of communication between the respectiveusers. Similarly, environment device 110 may be accompanied by anexternal camera (e.g., a Microsoft Kinect) or an embedded camera thatmay have stored videos of User 102 and User 106 watching the smart TVtogether. Once again, the stored videos may not be accessible on otherdevices, but may still be considered electronic communication becausethey are digital copies of an interaction between User 102 and User 106.Thus, each device may determine a unique degree of interaction, a uniquelikelihood, etc., using the steps described previously, and may sharethe outputs (e.g., individual verdicts on whether to transmit the accessrights or block outsider device 104) with the devices in thepeer-to-peer network. A voting system may then be utilized by the mediaguidance application on environment device 108 to determine a finalverdict on whether to transmit the access rights or block outsiderdevice 104 (e.g., transmit the access rights if a majority of thedevices decide to transmit).

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative example of a scenario for seamlesslyconnecting to a user's device in order to share and display a mediaasset featuring an individual closely related to the user, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure. The media guidance applicationmay be executed by control circuitry on outsider device 204, environmentdevice 210, environment device 212, on a remote server, or a combinationof these devices, as will be described with respect to FIGS. 3-6.Environment 200 is a setting where multiple devices owned by User 206can be found.

As shown in FIG. 2, the media guidance application may determine that afirst user (e.g., User 202), carrying a first device (e.g., outsiderdevice 204) comprising profile information of User 202, has entered anenvironment of a second user (e.g., User 206). Outsider device 204 maybe a laptop. As previously mentioned, the profile information of User202 may include information about the User 202's preferences, devicesettings, media viewing history, social media data, usage statistics,calendar, location history, etc. The global positioning system (GPS) onoutsider device 204 may be used by the media guidance application todetermine that the user has entered Environment 200 (e.g., the house ofthe user's father).

The media guidance application on outsider device 204 may determine thata media asset (e.g., Media 208) created by User 202 (e.g., a photo,video, graphic, audio file, video game, etc.) at a creation time withina threshold period of time from the present time is stored on outsiderdevice 204. Suppose that User 202 was previously attending a soccer gameand capturing videos of the soccer game. One or more videos may becaptured by User 202 on outsider device 204 (e.g., the laptop) or adifferent device (e.g., a smartphone). If a video was captured on thedifferent device, the video must be made accessible on outsider device204. For example, the captured video may be stored on the cloud or maybe transferred and stored in the local storage of outsider device 204.The media guidance application may extract the metadata from the videoto retrieve information such as the creation location (e.g., where thevideo was captured), the creation time (e.g., when the video wascaptured), the media type (e.g., video, photo, audio, etc.), the mediaformat (e.g., mp4, avi, etc.), the content of video (e.g., a soccergame), video name, video size, etc. The threshold period of time fromthe present time represents a time window within which the mediaguidance application scans for media assets on outsider device 204. Forexample, the threshold period of time may be three hours. Accordingly,the media guidance application may search the local and/or networkstorage of outsider device 204 for media assets created between thepresent time and three hours before the present time, by User 202. User202 may adjust the threshold period of time to alter the range of timethe media guidance application searches over for created media assets onoutsider device 204. User 206 may also set the threshold period of timeto limit the sharing to those media assets created within the thresholdperiod of time. Suppose User 202 captured the video of the soccer gamean hour before User 202 arrived at Environment 200 and the thresholdperiod of time is three hours. The media guidance application maydetermine that the creation time of the video is within the thresholdperiod of time.

The media guidance application on outsider device 204 may then determinewhether the media asset comprises content featuring an individualrelated to User 206. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine, from the metadata of the video, all individuals present inthe video. Suppose User 202 uploaded the video onto a social mediaplatform (e.g., Facebook). User 202 may have manually tagged theindividuals featured in the captured video. Therefore, the mediaguidance application may identify a tagged individual and determinewhether the individual is related to User 206.

In some embodiments, in order to determine whether the media assetcomprises the content featuring the individual related to User 206, themedia guidance application may identify, using at least one of objectrecognition and voice recognition, the individual in the media asset.For example, the media guidance application may implement an imageprocessing algorithm that extracts a frame from the video and performsfacial recognition (e.g., via segmentation, classification, etc.) toidentify faces in the video. The media guidance application may alsoimplement voice recognition to identify a voice in the video. Supposethe media guidance application identifies images of a girl kicking asoccer ball in the captured video.

In response to identifying the individual, the media guidanceapplication may determine an identifier of the individual using a mediaguidance database. The media guidance database may be stored in a remoteserver that is accessible to outsider device 204 and environment device210. The media guidance database may include information such asrecorded calls of User 202 and User 206, a list of individuals each userhas interacted with, reference images of the respective individuals(e.g., retrieved from social media profiles), and identifiers of therespective individuals (e.g., names, usernames, email addresses, phonenumbers). In the case that the media guidance application identifiesimages of an individual in the captured video of the soccer game, themedia guidance application may compare the identified images with thereference images in the media guidance database. If the media guidanceapplication finds an image match (e.g., via image processing techniquessuch as keypoint matching, coefficient of correlation, etc.), the mediaguidance application may determine an identifier of the individual(e.g., the name of the individual) based on the individual's socialmedia profile information. In the case that the media guidanceapplication extracts an audio clip of a voice in the captured video, themedia guidance application may compare the frequency and temporalinformation of the voice to the frequency and temporal information ofthe voices in the recorded calls in the media guidance database. If themedia guidance application finds a match, the media guidance applicationmay determine the identifier of the individual based on the contactinformation associated with the call (e.g., identify who was called).Suppose that the media guidance application determines, in response tofinding a facial match in the media guidance database, that the girlkicking the soccer ball is named Lisa Simpson.

In response to determining the identifier of the individual, the mediaguidance application may search the interaction data of User 206 for theidentifier. For example, the media guidance application may search forthe identifier “Lisa Simpson” in the contact list and/or social mediafriends list of User 206. In response to determining that the identifierof the individual is in the interaction data of User 206, the mediaguidance application may determine that the individual is related toUser 206. For example, the media guidance application may determine thatLisa Simpson is listed in the contact information of User 206 andtherefore is related to User 206 (e.g., as an acquaintance, co-worker,friend, etc.). In some embodiments, the media guidance application maysearch for a formal relationship between the individual and User 206.For example, the media guidance application may retrieve the entry “LisaSimpson” in the contact information or social media friends list, anddetermine that Lisa Simpson is described as User 206's granddaughter.

In response to determining that the media asset comprises the contentfeaturing the individual related to User 206, the media guidanceapplication on outsider device 204 may transmit a discovery message toidentify devices in Environment 200. The payload of the discoverymessage may include information of outsider device 204, an identifier ofUser 202, and may specify that outsider device 204 has access to themedia asset that features the individual related to User 206. The mediaguidance application may then identify a second device (e.g.,environment device 210) in Environment 200 based on the discoverymessage. For example, environment device 210 (e.g., a smart TV) inEnvironment 200 may receive the discovery message. In response,environment device 210 may send an acknowledgment message to outsiderdevice 204. The acknowledgment message may include information about thedevice such as a device identifier (e.g., name), a device type (e.g.,multimedia system, phone, display, etc.), authorized users, etc., andtimestamps signifying when the discovery message was received and whenthe acknowledgment was transmitted.

The media guidance application on outsider device 204 may then determinethat User 206 is authorized to grant access rights for environmentdevice 210. For example, the media guidance application may parse theacknowledgment message to determine a list of authorized users who maygrant access rights for environment device 210. The access rights may bea digital key, or a set of digital keys, that allows a device to connectto environment device 210 in order to send and/or receive data (e.g.,media content), and/or utilize a functionality of environment device 210(e.g., the ability to display video or output audio). Without the accessrights (e.g., the digital key), environment device 210 may at most sendan acknowledgement message to outsider device 204 in response toreceiving the discovery message. However, additional messages requestingdata such as media content may be blocked by environment device 210.

The media guidance application may receive, at environment device 210, arequest from outsider device 204 to connect and generate for display, onenvironment device 210, the media asset. For example, User 202 mayinitiate the request at outsider device 204 in order to share the videoof the soccer game featuring User 206's granddaughter. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine a length ofthe media asset. Depending on the type of media asset (e.g., video,photo, audio, electronic book, etc.), the length of the media asset canbe described in various ways. For example, the length of a video may bemeasured in the number of frames in the video or the duration of thevideo. Similarly, a slideshow may be measured in the number of images inthe slideshow or the duration of the slideshow. Suppose the mediaguidance application determines that the captured video of the soccergame has a length of one minute.

The media guidance application on outsider device 204 may determine anamount of time that the individual is featured in the content of themedia asset, with respect to the length of the media asset. For example,the media guidance application may determine that the individual ispresent in the video for 20 seconds (e.g., either through voice orvisuals). Suppose the length of the media asset was measured in frames(e.g., 1000 frames). It should be noted that the amount of time that theindividual is featured in the content of the media asset may also bemeasured by the number of frames (e.g., 333 frames). Similarly, if themedia asset is a photo album of 100 photos, the amount of time theindividual is featured may be measured by the number of photos featuringthe individual (e.g., 33 photos). In each example, relative to thelength of the media asset, the amount of time the user is present isapproximately 33%. The media guidance application may then determinewhether the amount of time is greater than a prominence threshold. Theprominence threshold determines how significant the individual is in themedia asset. For example, if the amount of time the user is featured is1%, User 206 may not be interested in viewing the media asset. Supposethe frequency threshold is 30%. In response to determining that theamount of time is greater than the prominence threshold, the mediaguidance application may automatically initiate the request at outsiderdevice 204 to connect and generate for display, on environment device210, the media asset. This process of determining that prominence of theindividual may be implemented before outsider device 204 transmits thediscovery message. Outsider device 204 may also transmit the amount oftime the individual is featured in the media asset in the discoverymessage. Accordingly, if the prominence threshold is set User 206, inresponse to determining that the amount of time is greater than theprominence threshold, environment device 210 may automatically initiatethe request to connect to outsider device 204 in order to generate fordisplay the media asset.

The media guidance application on environment device 210 may thenretrieve interaction data of the individual and User 206. Interactiondata may include any information indicating communication between theindividual and User 206, during a period of time. Interaction data mayinclude, but is not limited to, call logs, social media posts, messages,shared location history, emails, etc. The interaction data may also listall users User 206 has interacted with during the period of time.

The media guidance application on environment device 210 may thendetermine a degree of interaction between the individual and User 206,based on the interaction data. The degree of interaction is aquantitative or qualitative value that represents the magnitude (e.g.,frequency or amount) of interaction between User 202 and User 206. Forexample, the degree of interaction may be a fraction or percentage(e.g., 10%) representing the total number of messages exchanged betweenUser 202 and User 206, relative to the total number of messages User 206has exchanged with all users listed in the interaction data of User 206.The degree of interaction may also be a frequency (e.g., 5 messages perday) representing the number of messages exchanged between User 202 andUser 206 in a period of time. In terms of a qualitative value, thedegree of interaction may be one of several interaction types (e.g., nointeraction, minimal interaction, below average interaction, averageinteraction, above average interaction, significant interaction, etc.)or interaction frequencies (e.g., rare interaction, occasionalinteraction, frequent interaction, etc.).

In some embodiments the media guidance application may determine thedegree of interaction between the individual and User 206 by firstdetermining, based on the interaction data, a communication frequencybetween the individual and User 206. The communication frequencyrepresents how often the individual and User 206 have communicated usingelectronic communications. Electronic communications include, but arenot limited to, voice calls, video chats, social media posts, messages,emails, etc. Based on the communication frequency, the media guidanceapplication may determine the degree of interaction. For example, themedia guidance application may identify, from the interaction data, theelectronic communications exchanged between the individual and User 206in a period of time. Suppose the electronic communications between User206 and the granddaughter of User 206 include text messages.

The media guidance application may then determine a set of electroniccommunications that includes electronic communications whose respectivelengths are greater than a length threshold. The length threshold may bea preset value determined by User 206, representing a minimum length ofan electronic communication to be considered significant. For example,exchanged text messages that only featured five words may not beconsidered significant communication. Accordingly, the length thresholdfor textual electronic communications may be 20 words. The mediaguidance application may then determine a number of electroniccommunications in the set of electronic communications. Suppose a totalof thirty text messages are originally retrieved. Based on the lengththreshold, the media guidance application may determine that ten textmessages feature at least 20 words. Based on the number of electroniccommunications, the media guidance application may determine thecommunication frequency (e.g., daily, weekly, annually, etc.). Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that based on aspan of ten days, the communication frequency is one electroniccommunication per day.

The media guidance application on environment device 210 may thendetermine a likelihood that User 206 will grant the access rights forenvironment device 210 to User 202 in order to view the media asset,based on the degree of interaction and the creation time of the mediaasset. The likelihood may also be a quantitative or qualitative valuerepresenting a probability that User 206 will or will not grant theaccess rights for environment device 210 to User 202. It should be notedthat the threshold period of time may be a long period of time (e.g.,one year). Accordingly, a captured video of a soccer game that wascreated seven months before the present time may not be as relevant toUser 206 as a captured video of a soccer game that was created two daysbefore the present time.

In some embodiments when determining the likelihood that User 206 willgrant the access rights for environment device 210 to User 202, themedia guidance application may retrieve a connection history ofenvironment device 210 that lists previous devices and their respectiveusers that have either been granted or denied access rights toenvironment device 210. For example, the connection history may listthree entries, each comprising a timestamp at which a connection betweena device and environment device 210 was requested (e.g., 3/1/18 10:23:11pm), an identifier of the device (e.g., “smartphone”), an identifier ofthe user of the device (e.g., “Bart Simpson”), additional details aboutthe connection (e.g., an identifier of the individual in the mediaasset, calculated likelihood, degree of interaction, creation time ofmedia asset, etc.), and a determination by User 206 on whether to grantaccess rights (e.g., granted/denied).

The media guidance application may generate a probabilistic model thatestimates likelihoods using, as training data, respective degrees ofinteraction and creation times associated with the respective users thathave either been granted or denied access rights to environment device210. For example, the media guidance application may utilize machinelearning and/or deep learning algorithms (e.g., regression,classification) to determine the likelihood. The media guidanceapplication may use the labeled entries from the connection history astraining data to create a probabilistic model that is a function of thedegree of interaction and the creation time of the media asset. Themedia guidance application may then estimate, using the probabilisticmodel, the likelihood based on the degree of interaction and thecreation time. For example, if the degree of interaction is 40% and thecreation time is one hour before the present time, the probabilisticmodel may output an estimate of 70%. This likelihood suggests that thereis a 70% chance that User 206 would grant access rights to outsiderdevice 204, given the approvals/blocks User 206 has established in thepast.

The media guidance application may then, in response to determining thatthe likelihood is greater than a threshold, transmit the access rightsfor environment device 210 to outsider device 204. The thresholdrepresents a minimum likelihood required to transmit the access rights.Analogous to User 206 deciding on whether to grant access rights forenvironment device 210 to User 202, the media guidance application usesthe threshold as a decision boundary to determine whether to transmitthe access rights to User 202.

Accordingly, the threshold may be a preset value set by User 206. IfUser 206 assigns a higher threshold, receiving access rights fromenvironment device 210 may require a greater likelihood. As a result,the individual may need to interact more with User 206, or the creationtime may need to be closer to the present time. Suppose the threshold is65%. Because the likelihood (e.g., 70%) is greater than the threshold,the media guidance application may grant access rights for environmentdevice 210 to outsider device 204.

In some embodiments, when transmitting the access rights for environmentdevice 210 to outsider device 204, the media guidance application maydetermine that the likelihood is less than a second threshold associatedwith a second level of access to environment device 210. In this case,suppose that the threshold is a first threshold associated with a firstlevel of access to environment device 210 and that the second level ofaccess is greater than the first level of access. Each level of accessmay be associated with the ability to send and/or receive messages, anability to access content, and/or access to some functionality ofenvironment device 210. For example, the first level of access may allowoutsider device 204 to send and/or receive messages from environmentdevice 210. Thus, the respective devices may share information. Thesecond level of access may allow outsider two device 204 to utilize afunctionality of environment device 210 such as the ability to use thedisplay screen of environment device 210. Each subsequent level ofaccess may include all access rights from the previous level of access,along with additional access rights. Accordingly, each level of accessmay have its own threshold (e.g., 30%, 40%, etc.).

In response to determining that the likelihood is less than the secondthreshold, the media guidance application may transmit the access rightsassociated with the first level of access for environment device 210 tooutsider device 204 and restrict outsider device 204 from the accessrights associated with the second level of access. As discussed in theprevious example, the media guidance application may determine that thelikelihood (e.g., 70%) is greater than the first threshold (e.g., 65%).If the second threshold has a value of 80%, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the likelihood is less than the secondthreshold. In response, the media guidance application may restrictoutsider device 204 from the access rights associated exclusively withthe second level of access, and may grant access rights to outsiderdevice 204 that are associated with the first level of access.

In some embodiments, when transmitting the access rights for environmentdevice 210 to outsider device 204, the media guidance application mayautomatically establish a peer-to-peer connection between outsiderdevice 204 and environment device 210. In a peer-to-peer connectionoutsider device 204 and environment device 210 may be connected to eachother via the Internet. It should be noted that information can beshared directly between the respective devices without the need of acentral server to bridge the communication. The media guidanceapplication may retrieve the access rights that allow access to mediacontent or functionality of environment device 210, and may send theaccess rights to outsider device 204 through the peer-to-peerconnection.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may automaticallytransmit the access rights for environment device 210 to outsider device204 in response to determining that the individual has enteredEnvironment 200. For example, if the granddaughter of User 206 entersEnvironment 200, and the media guidance application determines that thecaptured video of the soccer game features the granddaughter of User 206(i.e., the individual in the media asset is related to User 206), themedia guidance application on environment device 210 may automaticallytransmit access rights to outsider device 204.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may automaticallytransmit the access rights for environment device 210 to outsider device204 in response to detecting speech, from User 206, referencing thecontent of the media asset. Suppose that User 206 speaks to User 202 andasks, “how was the soccer game?”. The media guidance application onoutsider device 204 may detect the voice of User 206 and identify, usingvoice recognition and audio clip references from the media guidancedatabase, that the voice is of User 206. Furthermore, the metadata ofthe media asset may include an identifier “soccer game,” which may bedetermined by using objection recognition on a frame of the media asset,or by the name and/or description of the media asset. The media guidanceapplication may determine that User 206 referenced the identifier of themedia asset and may automatically transmit the access rights, prior todetermining the degree of interaction between the individual and User206. Alternatively, User 206 may ask, “how is my granddaughter?”. Inthis scenario, the media guidance application may determine that themedia asset features the granddaughter of User 206. In response, themedia guidance application may automatically transmit the access rightsfor environment device 210, to outsider device 204.

The media guidance application on environment device 210 may thengenerate for display the media asset on environment device 210. Forexample, the media guidance application on outsider device 204 may sendthe media asset to environment device 210 via the peer-to-peerconnection. The media guidance application on environment device 210 maythen generate for display the media asset on environment device 210.

It should be noted that in the examples given previously, the processingfor the determination of values such as likelihood, degree ofinteraction, etc., can be performed by the media guidance application onvarious devices. For example, the media guidance application may performthe processing on outsider device 204, environment device 210, a remoteserver, or a different device owned by the first or second user. Forexample, if User 202 wishes to connect his/her outsider device 204(e.g., a laptop) to environment device 210 (e.g., a smart TV) owned byUser 206, the selectable options on whether to allow outsider device 204to connect to environment device 210, may instead be displayed onenvironment device 212 (e.g., a smartphone owned by User 206). In thisembodiment, a peer-to-peer network connection may be established betweenenvironment device 210 and environment device 212. When environmentdevice 210 receives a discovery message, environment device 210 mayforward the information in the discovery message to environment device212. Thus, if multiple devices in Environment 200 respond to thediscovery message of outsider device 204, each device will not performthe same calculations and waste processing. This allows all processingand decision-making of the media guidance application to take place on asingle device (e.g., environment device 212) that can performcalculations quickly, or has access to additional information about theinteractions of User 206. For example, environment device 210 may nothave access to the social media interactions of User 206 (e.g., User 206did not log on to their social media account on the smart TV).Therefore, the determination of the degree of interaction is moreefficiently performed on a device, such as environment device 212, thathas access to the interaction data associated with the social mediaaccount.

Alternatively, the processing may be divided across all devices inEnvironment 200. For example, Environment 200 may include two devices ofUser 206: environment device 210 (e.g., a smart TV), and environmentdevice 212 (e.g., a smartphone). A peer-to-peer network may connect bothdevices. Each device may hold exclusive profile information of User 206.For example, environment device 210 may be accompanied by an externalcamera (e.g., a Microsoft Kinect) or an embedded camera that may havestored videos of User 202 and User 206 watching the smart TV together.Once again, the stored videos may not be accessible on other devices,but may still be considered electronic communication because they aredigital copies of an interaction between User 202 and User 206. Thus,each device may determine a unique degree of interaction, a uniquelikelihood, etc., using the steps described previously, and may sharethe outputs (e.g., individual verdicts on whether to transmit the accessrights or block outsider device 204) with the devices in thepeer-to-peer network. A voting system may then be utilized by the mediaguidance application on environment device 210 to determine a finalverdict on whether to transmit the access rights or block outsiderdevice 204 (e.g., transmit the access rights if a majority of thedevices decide to transmit).

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, chat sessions, social media,applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screenand a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a frontfacing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content or data used in operating the guidance application.For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, user profile information, medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parentalcontrol ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information,actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos,etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D,etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type ofguidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locatedesired content selections.

FIGS. 3-4 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 3-4 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 3-4 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 3 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 300arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 300 may include grid 302 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 304, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 306, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 302 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 308, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 310. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 310 may be provided inprogram information region 312. Region 312 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), theprogram's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 302 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 314, recorded content listing 316, andInternet content listing 318. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 300 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings314, 316, and 318 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 302 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 302. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 320. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 320.)

Display 300 may also include video region 322, and options region 326.Video region 322 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs thatare currently available, will be available, or were available to theuser. The content of video region 322 may correspond to, or beindependent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 302. Griddisplays including a video region are sometimes referred to aspicture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalitiesare described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No.6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794,issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference hereinin their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other mediaguidance application display screens of the embodiments describedherein.

Options region 326 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 326 may be part of display 300 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 326 may concern features related to program listings in grid 302or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.Tivo.com, from other media guidance applicationsthe user accesses, from other interactive applications the useraccesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.), and/orobtain information about the user from other sources that the mediaguidance application may access. As a result, a user can be providedwith a unified guidance application experience across the user'sdifferent user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 6. Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 4. Video mosaic display 400 includes selectable options 402 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 400, television listings option 404 isselected, thus providing listings 406, 408, 410, and 412 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 400 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 408 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 414 and text portion 416.Media portion 414 and/or text portion 416 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 414 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 400 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 406 islarger than listings 408, 410, and 412), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 5 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 500. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 6.User equipment device 500 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 502. I/O path 502 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 504, which includesprocessing circuitry 506 and storage 508. Control circuitry 504 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 502. I/O path 502 may connect control circuitry 504 (andspecifically processing circuitry 506) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 5 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 504 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 506. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 504 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 508). Specifically, control circuitry 504 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 504 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 504 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 504 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above-mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 6). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 508 thatis part of control circuitry 504. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 508 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 6, may be used to supplementstorage 508 or instead of storage 508.

Control circuitry 504 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 504 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 500. Circuitry 504 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 508 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 500, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 508.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 504 using user inputinterface 510. User input interface 510 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 512 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 500. For example, display 512 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 510may be integrated with or combined with display 512. Display 512 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 512 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 512 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 512.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry504. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 504.Speakers 514 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 500 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 512 may be played throughspeakers 514. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers514.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 500. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage508), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 504 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 508 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 504 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 510. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 510 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 500 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 500. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 504 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 504) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally on equipment device 500. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server whilethe resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 500.Equipment device 500 may receive inputs from the user via inputinterface 510 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 500 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 510.The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that inputand generate a display of the application corresponding to the input(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display isthen transmitted to equipment device 500 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 504). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 504 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 504. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 504. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 500 of FIG. 5 can be implemented in system 600 ofFIG. 6 as user television equipment 602, user computer equipment 604,wireless user communications device 606, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 5 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 602, user computer equipment 604, or awireless user communications device 606. For example, user televisionequipment 602 may, like some user computer equipment 604, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 604 may, like some television equipment 602, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 604, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 606.

In system 600, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 6 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 602, user computer equipment 604, wireless user communicationsdevice 606) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.Tivo.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 614.Namely, user television equipment 602, user computer equipment 604, andwireless user communications device 606 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 614 via communications paths 608, 610, and 612, respectively.Communications network 614 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 608, 610, and 612 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 612 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 6 it is awireless path and paths 608 and 610 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 6 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 608, 610, and 612, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 614.

System 600 includes content source 616 and media guidance data source618 coupled to communications network 614 via communication paths 620and 622, respectively. Paths 620 and 622 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 608, 610,and 612. Communications with the content source 616 and media guidancedata source 618 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 6 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 616 and media guidance data source 618, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 6 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 616 and media guidance data source 618 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 616 and 618 withuser equipment devices 602, 604, and 606 are shown as throughcommunications network 614, in some embodiments, sources 616 and 618 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 602, 604, and 606 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 608, 610, and 612.

Content source 616 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 616 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 616 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 616 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 618 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 618may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 618 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 618 mayprovide user equipment devices 602, 604, and 606 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions that entice the user tokeep the particular service or source indicated by the score as one towhich the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 508, and executedby control circuitry 504 of a user equipment device 500. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 504 of user equipment device 500and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 618) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 618), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 618 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices602, 604, and 606 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 600 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 6.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 614.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. PatentPublication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application. Various systems and methods for userequipment devices communicating, where the user equipment devices are inlocations remote from each other, is discussed in, for example, Ellis etal., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issued Oct. 25, 2011, which is herebyincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 616 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 602 and user computer equipment 604may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 606 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 614. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 616 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 618. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 602, user computer equipment 604, and wirelessuser communications device 606. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 604 or wireless usercommunications device 606 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 604. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 614. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 5.

As referred herein, the term “in response to” refers to initiated as aresult of. For example, a first action being performed in response to asecond action may include interstitial steps between the first actionand the second action. As referred herein, the term “directly inresponse to” refers to caused by. For example, a first action beingperformed directly in response to a second action may not includeinterstitial steps between the first action and the second action.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an illustrative process for seamlesslyconnecting to a user's device in order to share and display a mediaasset featuring an individual closely related to the user, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure. It should be noted that process700 or any step thereof could be performed on, or provided by, any ofthe devices shown in FIGS. 5-6. For example, process 700 may be executedby control circuitry 504 (FIG. 5) as instructed by a media guidanceapplication implemented on user equipment 108 (which may have thefunctionality of any or all of user equipment 602, 604, and/or 606 (FIG.6)). In addition, one or more steps of process 700 may be incorporatedinto or combined with one or more steps of any other process orembodiment (e.g., as described in relation to FIGS. 8-19). Many elementsof process 700 have been described above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2,and those descriptions have full force and effect with respect to thebelow description of process 700, and thus details onpreviously-described elements are omitted for the sake of brevity.

Process 700 begins at 702 where control circuitry 504 determines whethera first user carrying a first device has entered an environment of asecond user. In response to determining that the first user has notentered the environment, the process stops at 704. In response todetermining that the first user has entered the environment, the processcontinues to 706 where control circuitry 504 determines whether a mediaasset (e.g., a video) recently created by the first user is stored(e.g., in storage 508) on the first device (e.g., user televisionequipment 602, user computer equipment 604, or wireless usercommunications device 606). It should be noted that the media asset mustfeature an individual related to the second user. In response todetermining that a media asset that features an individual related tothe user that was recently created is not stored on the first device,the process stops at 704. In response to determining that a media assetthat features an individual related to the user that was recentlycreated is stored on the first device, the process continues to 708where control circuitry 504 identifies, in the environment, a seconddevice (e.g., user television equipment 602, user computer equipment604, or wireless user communications device 606) that the second user isauthorized to grant access rights for. At 710, control circuitry 504receives, at the second device, a request from the first device toconnect and generate for display, on the second device, the media asset(e.g., via communication network 614). At 712, control circuitry 504retrieves interaction data between the individual and the second user(e.g., via media guidance data source 618 or storage 508 on equipment604, 606, and/or 608). At 714, control circuitry 504 determines alikelihood that the second user will grant the access rights for thesecond device to the first user in order to view the media asset, basedon interaction data. At 716, control circuitry determines whether thelikelihood is greater than a threshold. In response to determining thatthe likelihood is greater than a threshold, control circuitry 504transmits the access rights for the second device to the first device(e.g., via communication network 614) at 718. In response to determiningthat the likelihood is not greater than the threshold, the process stopsat 704. At 720, control circuitry 504 generates for display the mediaasset on the second device (e.g., via display 512).

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process for seamlesslyconnecting to a user's device in order to share and display a mediaasset featuring an individual closely related to the user, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure. It should be noted that process800 or any step thereof could be performed on, or provided by, any ofthe devices shown in FIGS. 5-6. For example, process 800 may be executedby control circuitry 504 (FIG. 5) as instructed by a media guidanceapplication implemented on user equipment 108 (which may have thefunctionality of any or all of user equipment 602, 604, and/or 606 (FIG.6)). In addition, one or more steps of process 800 may be incorporatedinto or combined with one or more steps of any other process orembodiment (e.g., as described in relation to FIGS. 7 and 9-19). Manyelements of process 800 have been described above with respect to FIGS.1 and 2, and those descriptions have full force and effect with respectto the below description of process 800, and thus details onpreviously-described elements are omitted for the sake of brevity.

Process 800 begins at 802 where control circuitry 504 determines whethera first user, carrying a first device (e.g., user television equipment602, user computer equipment 604, or wireless user communications device606) comprising profile information of the first user (e.g., stored instorage 508), has entered an environment of a second user. In responseto determining that the first user has entered the environment of thesecond user, the process proceeds to 804 where control circuitry 504determines that a media asset (e.g., a video) created by the first userat a creation time within a threshold period of time from the presenttime, is stored on the first device (e.g., in storage 508). In responseto determining that the first user has not entered the environment ofthe second user, the process stops at 808. At process 806, controlcircuitry 504 determines whether the media asset comprises contentfeaturing an individual related to the second user. In response todetermining that the media asset comprises content featuring theindividual related to the second user, the process proceeds to 810 wherecontrol circuitry 504 transmits a discovery message to identify devicesin the environment (e.g., via communications network 614). In responseto determining that the media asset does not comprise content featuringthe individual related to the second user, the process stops at 808. At812, control circuitry 504 identifies a second device (e.g., usertelevision equipment 602, user computer equipment 604, or wireless usercommunications device 606) in the environment based on the discoverymessage. At 814, control circuitry 504 determines that the second useris authorized to grant access rights for the second device. At 816,control circuitry 504 receives, at the second device, a request from thefirst device to connect and generate for display (e.g., on display 512),on the second device, the media asset. At 818, control circuitry 504retrieves interaction data between the individual and the second user(e.g., via media guidance data source 618 or storage 508 on equipment604, 606, and/or 608). At 820, control circuitry 504 determines a degreeof interaction between the individual and the second user based on theinteraction data. At 822, control circuitry 504 determines a likelihoodthat the second user will grant the access rights for the second deviceto the first user in order to view the media asset, based on the degreeof interaction and the creation time of the media asset. At 824, controlcircuitry 504 determines whether the likelihood is greater than athreshold. In response to determining that the likelihood is greaterthan the threshold, the process proceeds to 826, where control circuitry504 transmits the access rights for the second device to the firstdevice. In response to determining that the likelihood is not greaterthan the threshold, process 1700 proceeds to process 1800 of FIG. 18. At828, control circuitry 504 generates for display the media asset on thesecond device (e.g., on display 512).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process for determiningwhether the media asset comprises the content featuring the individualrelated to the second user, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. It should be noted that process 900 or any step thereofcould be performed on, or provided by, any of the devices shown in FIGS.5-6. For example, process 900 may be executed by control circuitry 504(FIG. 5) as instructed by a media guidance application implemented onuser equipment 108 (which may have the functionality of any or all ofuser equipment 602, 604, and/or 606 (FIG. 6)). In addition, one or moresteps of process 900 may be incorporated into or combined with one ormore steps of any other process or embodiment (e.g., as described inrelation to FIGS. 7-8 and 10-19). Many elements of process 900 have beendescribed above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2, and those descriptionshave full force and effect with respect to the below description ofprocess 900, and thus details on previously-described elements areomitted for the sake of brevity.

Process 900 begins at 902 where control circuitry 504 identifies, usingat least one of object recognition and voice recognition, the individualin the media asset. At 904, control circuitry 504 determines anidentifier of the individual using a media guidance database (e.g.,media guidance data source 618). At 906, in response to determining theidentifier of the individual, control circuitry 504 searches theinteraction data (e.g., in media guidance data source 618 or storage 508on equipment 604, 606, and/or 608) of the second user for theidentifier. At 908, control circuitry 504 determines whether theidentifier of the individual is in the interaction data of the seconduser. At 910, in response to determining that the identifier of theindividual is not in the interaction data of the second user, controlcircuitry 504 determines that the individual is not related to thesecond user. At 912, in response to determining that the identifier ofthe individual is in the interaction data of the second user, controlcircuitry 504 determine that the individual is related to the seconduser.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process forautomatically initiating the request at the first device to connect andgenerate for display, on the second device, the media asset, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. It should be notedthat process 1000 or any step thereof could be performed on, or providedby, any of the devices shown in FIGS. 5-6. For example, process 1000 maybe executed by control circuitry 504 (FIG. 5) as instructed by a mediaguidance application implemented on user equipment 108 (which may havethe functionality of any or all of user equipment 602, 604, and/or 606(FIG. 6)). In addition, one or more steps of process 1000 may beincorporated into or combined with one or more steps of any otherprocess or embodiment (e.g., as described in relation to FIGS. 7-9 and11-19). Many elements of process 1000 have been described above withrespect to FIGS. 1 and 2, and those descriptions have full force andeffect with respect to the below description of process 1000, and thusdetails on previously-described elements are omitted for the sake ofbrevity.

Process 1000 begins at 1002 where control circuitry 504 determines alength of the media asset (e.g., a runtime). At 1004, control circuitry504 determines an amount of time that the individual is featured in thecontent of the media asset, with respect to the length of the mediaasset. At 1006, control circuitry 504 determines whether the amount oftime is greater than a prominence threshold (e.g., retrieved from mediaguidance data source 618 or storage 508). At 1008, in response todetermining that the amount of time is not greater than a prominencethreshold, control circuitry 504 monitors for requests at the seconddevice (e.g., over communications network 614). At 1010, in response todetermining that the amount of time is greater than the prominencethreshold, control circuitry 504 automatically initiates the request atthe first device to connect and generate for display, on the seconddevice, the media asset (e.g., on display 512).

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process fordetermining the degree of interaction, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. It should be noted that process 1100 orany step thereof could be performed on, or provided by, any of thedevices shown in FIGS. 5-6. For example, process 1100 may be executed bycontrol circuitry 504 (FIG. 5) as instructed by a media guidanceapplication implemented on user equipment 108 (which may have thefunctionality of any or all of user equipment 602, 604, and/or 606 (FIG.6)). In addition, one or more steps of process 1100 may be incorporatedinto or combined with one or more steps of any other process orembodiment (e.g., as described in relation to FIGS. 7-10 and 12-19).Many elements of process 1100 have been described above with respect toFIGS. 1 and 2, and those descriptions have full force and effect withrespect to the below description of process 1100, and thus details onpreviously-described elements are omitted for the sake of brevity.

Process 1100 begins at 1102 where control circuitry 504 identifies, fromthe interaction data (e.g., retrieved from media guidance data source618 or storage 508), the electronic communications exchanged between theindividual and the second user in a period of time. At 1104, controlcircuitry 504 determines a length of each electronic communication(e.g., number of words in the electronic communication) of theelectronic communications exchanged. At 1106, control circuitry 504determines a set of electronic communications that include electroniccommunications whose respective lengths are greater than a lengththreshold (e.g., a minimum word count). At 1108, control circuitry 504determines a number of electronic communications in the set ofelectronic communications. At 1110, based on the number of electroniccommunications, control circuitry 504 determines the communicationfrequency. At 1112, based on the communication frequency, controlcircuitry 504 determines the degree of interaction.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process fortransmitting the access rights of a specific level of access, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. It should be notedthat process 1200 or any step thereof could be performed on, or providedby, any of the devices shown in FIGS. 5-6. For example, process 1200 maybe executed by control circuitry 504 (FIG. 5) as instructed by a mediaguidance application implemented on user equipment 108 (which may havethe functionality of any or all of user equipment 602, 604, and/or 606(FIG. 6)). In addition, one or more steps of process 1200 may beincorporated into or combined with one or more steps of any otherprocess or embodiment (e.g., as described in relation to FIGS. 7-11 and13-19). Many elements of process 1200 have been described above withrespect to FIGS. 1 and 2, and those descriptions have full force andeffect with respect to the below description of process 1200, and thusdetails on previously-described elements are omitted for the sake ofbrevity.

Process 1200 begins at 1202 where control circuitry 504 determineswhether the likelihood is greater than a second threshold associatedwith a second level of access to the second device. At 1204, in responseto determining that the likelihood is not greater than a secondthreshold associated with a second level of access to the second device,control circuitry 504 transmits the access rights associated with thefirst level of access for the second device to the first device (e.g.,via communications network 614). At 1204, in response to determiningthat the likelihood is greater than a second threshold associated with asecond level of access to the second device, control circuitry 504transmits the access rights associated with the second level of accessfor the second device to the first device (e.g., via communicationsnetwork 614).

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process forestimating, using a probabilistic model, the likelihood, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure. It should be noted that process1300 or any step thereof could be performed on, or provided by, any ofthe devices shown in FIGS. 5-6. For example, process 1300 may beexecuted by control circuitry 504 (FIG. 5) as instructed by a mediaguidance application implemented on user equipment 108 (which may havethe functionality of any or all of user equipment 602, 604, and/or 606(FIG. 6)). In addition, one or more steps of process 1300 may beincorporated into or combined with one or more steps of any otherprocess or embodiment (e.g., as described in relation to FIGS. 7-12 and14-19). Many elements of process 1300 have been described above withrespect to FIGS. 1 and 2, and those descriptions have full force andeffect with respect to the below description of process 1300, and thusdetails on previously-described elements are omitted for the sake ofbrevity.

Process 1300 begins at 1302 where control circuitry 504 retrieves aconnection history of the second device that lists previous devices andtheir respective users that have either been granted or denied accessrights to the second device (e.g., retrieved from media guidance datasource 618 or storage 508). At 1304, control circuitry 504 generates aprobabilistic model that estimates likelihoods using, as training data,respective degrees of interaction and creation times associated with therespective users that have either been granted or denied access rightsto the second device. At 1306, control circuitry 504 estimates, usingthe probabilistic model, the likelihood based on the degree ofinteraction and the creation time.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of an illustrative process for seamlesslyconnecting devices based on relationships between the users of therespective devices, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. It should be noted that process 1400 or any step thereofcould be performed on, or provided by, any of the devices shown in FIGS.5-6. For example, process 1400 may be executed by control circuitry 504(FIG. 5) as instructed by a media guidance application implemented onuser equipment 108 (which may have the functionality of any or all ofuser equipment 602, 604, and/or 606 (FIG. 6)). In addition, one or moresteps of process 1400 may be incorporated into or combined with one ormore steps of any other process or embodiment (e.g., as described inrelation to FIGS. 7-13 and 15-19). Many elements of process 1400 havebeen described above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2, and thosedescriptions have full force and effect with respect to the belowdescription of process 1400, and thus details on previously-describedelements are omitted for the sake of brevity.

Process 1400 begins at 1402 where control circuitry 504 determineswhether a first user carrying a first device (e.g., user televisionequipment 602, user computer equipment 604, or wireless usercommunications device 606) has entered an environment. In response todetermining that the first user carrying the first device has notentered the environment, the process stops at 1404. At 1406, in responseto determining that the first user has entered the environment, controlcircuitry 504 determines a frequency with which the first user entersthe environment (e.g., based on user profile information from storage508 or media guidance data source 618). At 1408, control circuitry 504determines whether the frequency is greater than a frequency threshold.In response to determining that the frequency is not greater than thefrequency threshold, the process stops at 1404. At 1410, in response todetermining that the frequency is greater than the frequency threshold,control circuitry 504 identifies a second device (e.g., user televisionequipment 602, user computer equipment 604, or wireless usercommunications device 606) in the environment. At 1412, controlcircuitry 504 determines that a second user is authorized to grantaccess rights for the second device. At 1414, control circuitry 504determines a likelihood that the second user will grant the accessrights for the second device to the first user, based on interactiondata between the first user and the second user. At 1416, controlcircuitry 504 determines whether the likelihood is greater than athreshold. In response to determining that the likelihood is not greaterthan the threshold, the process stops at 1404. At 1418, in response todetermining that the likelihood is greater than the threshold, controlcircuitry 504 transmits the access rights for the second device to thefirst device (e.g., over communications network 614).

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process seamlesslyconnecting devices based on relationships between the users of therespective devices, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. It should be noted that process 1500 or any step thereofcould be performed on, or provided by, any of the devices shown in FIGS.5-6. For example, process 1500 may be executed by control circuitry 504(FIG. 5) as instructed by a media guidance application implemented onuser equipment 108 (which may have the functionality of any or all ofuser equipment 602, 604, and/or 606 (FIG. 6)). In addition, one or moresteps of process 1500 may be incorporated into or combined with one ormore steps of any other process or embodiment (e.g., as described inrelation to FIGS. 7-14 and 16-19). Many elements of process 1500 havebeen described above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2, and thosedescriptions have full force and effect with respect to the belowdescription of process 1500, and thus details on previously-describedelements are omitted for the sake of brevity.

Process 1500 begins at 1502 where control circuitry 504 determineswhether a first user, carrying a first device (e.g., user televisionequipment 602, user computer equipment 604, or wireless usercommunications device 606) comprising profile information of the firstuser, has entered an environment of a second user. In response todetermining that the first user has entered the environment of thesecond user, the process proceeds to 1504 where control circuitry 504determines, based on the profile information of the first user, afrequency with which the first user enters the environment. In responseto determining that the first user has not entered the environment ofthe second user, the process stops at 1508. At 1506, control circuitry504 determines whether the frequency is greater than a frequencythreshold. In response to determining that the frequency is greater thanthe frequency threshold, control circuitry 504 transmits a discoverymessage to identify devices in the environment (e.g., overcommunications network 614). In response to determining that thefrequency is not greater than the frequency threshold, the process stopsat 1508. At 1512, control circuitry 504 identifies a second device(e.g., user television equipment 602, user computer equipment 604, orwireless user communications device 606) in the environment based on thediscovery message. At 1514, control circuitry 504 determines that thesecond user is authorized to grant access rights for the second device.At 1516, control circuitry 504 retrieves interaction data of the firstuser and the second user. At 1518, control circuitry 504 determines adegree of interaction between the first user and the second user basedon the interaction data (e.g., via media guidance data source 618 orstorage 508 on equipment 604, 606, and/or 608). At 1520, controlcircuitry 504 determines a likelihood that the second user will grantthe access rights for the second device to the first user, based on thedegree of interaction and the frequency. At 1522, control circuitry 504determines whether the likelihood is greater than a threshold. At 1524,in response to determining that the likelihood is greater than thethreshold, control circuitry 504 transmits the access rights for thesecond device to the first device (e.g., via communications network614). In response to determining that the likelihood is not greater thanthe threshold, the process proceeds to process 1800 of FIG. 18.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process fortransmitting the access rights based on the occurrence of an event atthe environment, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.It should be noted that process 1600 or any step thereof could beperformed on, or provided by, any of the devices shown in FIGS. 5-6. Forexample, process 1600 may be executed by control circuitry 504 (FIG. 5)as instructed by a media guidance application implemented on userequipment 108 (which may have the functionality of any or all of userequipment 602, 604, and/or 606 (FIG. 6)). In addition, one or more stepsof process 1600 may be incorporated into or combined with one or moresteps of any other process or embodiment (e.g., as described in relationto FIGS. 7-15 and 17-19). Many elements of process 1600 have beendescribed above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2, and those descriptionshave full force and effect with respect to the below description ofprocess 1600, and thus details on previously-described elements areomitted for the sake of brevity.

Process 1600 begins at 1602 where control circuitry 504 identifies,based on the profile information of the first user (e.g., a user profilein storage 508), an event in which the first user and the second userare participants. At 1604, control circuitry 504 determines whether theevent is occurring in the environment. In response to determining thatthe event is not occurring in the environment, the process proceeds to1518 of FIG. 5. At 1606, in response to determining that the event isoccurring in the environment, control circuitry 504 transmits the accessrights for the second device to the first device (e.g., viacommunications network 614).

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process forestablishing a peer-to-peer connection in order to transmit accessrights, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. It shouldbe noted that process 1700 or any step thereof could be performed on, orprovided by, any of the devices shown in FIGS. 5-6. For example, process1700 may be executed by control circuitry 504 (FIG. 5) as instructed bya media guidance application implemented on user equipment 108 (whichmay have the functionality of any or all of user equipment 602, 604,and/or 606 (FIG. 6)). In addition, one or more steps of process 1700 maybe incorporated into or combined with one or more steps of any otherprocess or embodiment (e.g., as described in relation to FIGS. 7-16 and18-19). Many elements of process 1700 have been described above withrespect to FIGS. 1 and 2, and those descriptions have full force andeffect with respect to the below description of process 1700, and thusdetails on previously-described elements are omitted for the sake ofbrevity.

Process 1700 begins at 1702 where control circuitry 504 automaticallyestablishes a peer-to-peer connection between the first device and thesecond device (e.g., communications network 614). At 1704, controlcircuitry 504 retrieves the access rights for the second device,allowing access to media content on the second device. At 1706, controlcircuitry 504 sends the access rights to the first device through thepeer-to-peer connection (e.g., over communications network 614).

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process for promptingthe second user to select between options to transmit the access rightsor block the first device, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. It should be noted that process 1800 or any step thereofcould be performed on, or provided by, any of the devices shown in FIGS.5-6. For example, process 1800 may be executed by control circuitry 504(FIG. 5) as instructed by a media guidance application implemented onuser equipment 108 (which may have the functionality of any or all ofuser equipment 602, 604, and/or 606 (FIG. 6)). In addition, one or moresteps of process 1800 may be incorporated into or combined with one ormore steps of any other process or embodiment (e.g., as described inrelation to FIGS. 7-17 and 19). Many elements of process 1800 have beendescribed above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2, and those descriptionshave full force and effect with respect to the below description ofprocess 1800, and thus details on previously-described elements areomitted for the sake of brevity.

Process 1800 begins at 1802 where control circuitry 504 prompts thesecond user with both a first selectable option to transmit the accessrights to the first device and a second selectable option to block thefirst device (e.g., on user input interface 510). At 1804, controlcircuitry 504 determines whether a selection of the first selectableoption to transmit the access rights for the second device to the firstdevice was received (e.g., via I/O Path 502). At 1806, in response todetermining that the first selectable option was received, controlcircuitry 504 transmits the access rights for the second device to thefirst device (e.g., over communications network 614). At 1808, inresponse to determining that the first selectable option was notreceived, control circuitry 504 determines whether a selection of thesecond selectable option to block the first device from connecting tothe second device was received (e.g., via I/O Path 502). At 1810, inresponse to determining that the second selectable option was received,control circuitry 504 blocks the first device from connecting to thesecond device (e.g., via communications network 614). In response todetermining that no selection was received, control circuitry 504 maycause a timeout and may automatically make a decision on whether totransmit the access rights or block the device.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of a detailed illustrative process fordetermining whether the first user is in the environment, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure. It should be noted that process1900 or any step thereof could be performed on, or provided by, any ofthe devices shown in FIGS. 5-6. For example, process 1900 may beexecuted by control circuitry 504 (FIG. 5) as instructed by a mediaguidance application implemented on user equipment 108 (which may havethe functionality of any or all of user equipment 602, 604, and/or 606(FIG. 6)). In addition, one or more steps of process 1900 may beincorporated into or combined with one or more steps of any otherprocess or embodiment (e.g., as described in relation to FIGS. 7-18).Many elements of process 1900 have been described above with respect toFIGS. 1 and 2, and those descriptions have full force and effect withrespect to the below description of process 1900, and thus details onpreviously-described elements are omitted for the sake of brevity.

Process 1900 begins at 1902 where control circuitry 504 determines,using sensor circuitry (e.g., of equipment devices 602, 604, and/or606), a first location of the first user. At 1904, control circuitry 504determines, using the sensor circuitry, a second location of the seconduser. At 1906, control circuitry 504 determines that the second locationof the second user corresponds to a location of the environment (e.g.,based on data from media guidance data source 618 or a user profilestored in storage 508). At 1908, control circuitry 504 determineswhether the first location of the first user and the second location ofthe second user are within a threshold proximity. At 1910, in responseto determining that the first location of the first user and the secondlocation of the second user are within a threshold proximity, controlcircuitry 504 determines that the first location corresponds to thelocation of the environment. At 1912, in response to determining thatthe first location of the first user and the second location of thesecond user are within a threshold proximity, control circuitry 504determines that the first location does not correspond to the locationof the environment.

It should be noted that processes 700-1900 or any step thereof could beperformed on, or provided by, any of the devices shows in FIGS. 1, 2 and5-6. For example, any of processes 700-1900 may be executed by controlcircuitry 504 (FIG. 5) as instructed by control circuitry implemented onuser equipment 602, 604, 606 (FIG. 5), and/or a user equipment forselecting a recommendation. In addition, one or more steps of processes700-1900 may be incorporated into or combined with one or more steps ofany other process or embodiment.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of each of FIGS. 7-19may be used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition,the steps and descriptions described in relation to FIGS. 7-19 may bedone in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes ofthis disclosure. For example, each of these steps may be performed inany order or in parallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lagor increase the speed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should benoted that any of the devices or equipment discussed in relation toFIGS. 1, 2 and 5-6 could be used to perform one or more of the steps inFIGS. 7-19.

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that methodsinvolved in the present invention may be embodied in a computer programproduct that includes a computer-usable and/or readable medium. Forexample, such a computer-usable medium may consist of a read-only memorydevice, such as a CD-ROM disk or conventional ROM device, or arandom-access memory, such as a hard drive device or a computerdiskette, having a computer-readable program code stored thereon. Itshould also be understood that methods, techniques, and processesinvolved in the present disclosure may be executed using processingcircuitry.

The processes discussed above are intended to be illustrative and notlimiting. One skilled in the art would appreciate that the steps of theprocesses discussed herein may be omitted, modified, combined, and/orrearranged, and any additional steps may be performed without departingfrom the scope of the invention. More generally, the above disclosure ismeant to be exemplary and not limiting. Only the claims that follow aremeant to set bounds as to what the present invention includes.Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitationsdescribed in any one embodiment may be applied to any other embodimentherein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may becombined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done indifferent orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems andmethods described herein may be performed in real time. It should alsobe noted, the systems and/or methods described above may be applied to,or used in accordance with, other systems and/or methods.

While some portions of this disclosure may make reference to“convention,” any such reference is merely for the purpose of providingcontext to the invention(s) of the instant disclosure, and does not formany admission as to what constitutes the state of the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for seamlessly connecting to a user'sdevice in order to share and display a media asset featuring anindividual closely related to the user, the method comprising:determining that a first user, carrying a first device comprisingprofile information of the first user, has entered an environment of asecond user; determining that a media asset created by the first user ata creation time within a threshold period of time from the present timeis stored on the first device; determining whether the media assetcomprises content featuring an individual related to the second user; inresponse to determining that the media asset comprises the contentfeaturing the individual related to the second user, transmitting adiscovery message to identify devices in the environment; identifying asecond device in the environment based on the discovery message;determining that the second user is authorized to grant access rightsfor the second device; receiving, at the second device, a request fromthe first device to connect and generate for display, on the seconddevice, the media asset; in response to receiving the request:retrieving interaction data between the individual and the second user;determining a degree of interaction between the individual and thesecond user based on the interaction data; determining a likelihood thatthe second user will grant the access rights for the second device tothe first user in order to view the media asset, based on the degree ofinteraction and the creation time of the media asset; in response todetermining that the likelihood is greater than a threshold,transmitting the access rights for the second device to the firstdevice; and generating for display the media asset on the second device.2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the media assetcomprises the content featuring the individual related to the seconduser further comprises: identifying, using at least one of objectrecognition and voice recognition, the individual in the media asset;determining an identifier of the individual using a media guidancedatabase; in response to determining the identifier of the individual,searching the interaction data of the second user for the identifier;and in response to determining that the identifier of the individual isin the interaction data of the second user, determining that theindividual is related to the second user.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein receiving, at the second device, the request from the firstdevice to connect and generate for display, on the second device, themedia asset, further comprises: determining a length of the media asset;determining an amount of time that the individual is featured in thecontent of the media asset, with respect to the length of the mediaasset; determining whether the amount of time is greater than aprominence threshold; and in response to determining that the amount oftime is greater than the prominence threshold, automatically initiatingthe request at the first device to connect and generate for display, onthe second device, the media asset.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereindetermining the degree of interaction between the individual and thesecond user based on the interaction data, further comprises:determining, based on the interaction data, a communication frequencybetween the individual and the second user, wherein the communicationfrequency represents how often the individual and the second user havecommunicated using electronic communications; and based on thecommunication frequency, determining the degree of interaction.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, wherein determining, based on the interaction data,the communication frequency between the individual and the second userfurther comprises: identifying, from the interaction data, theelectronic communications exchanged between the individual and thesecond user in a period of time; determining a length of each electroniccommunication of the electronic communications exchanged; determining aset of electronic communications, wherein the set of electroniccommunications comprises of electronic communications whose respectivelengths are greater than a length threshold; determining a number ofelectronic communications in the set of electronic communications; andbased on the number of electronic communications, determining thecommunication frequency.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the thresholdis a first threshold associated with a first level of access to thesecond device, wherein transmitting the access rights for the seconddevice to the first device further comprises: determining that thelikelihood is less than a second threshold associated with a secondlevel of access to the second device, wherein the second level of accessis greater than the first level of access; in response to determiningthat the likelihood is less than the second threshold, transmitting theaccess rights associated with the first level of access for the seconddevice to the first device and restricting the first device from theaccess rights associated with the second level of access.
 7. The methodof claim 1, wherein determining the likelihood that the second user willgrant the access rights for the second device to the first user, basedon the degree of interaction and the creation time, further comprises:retrieving a connection history of the second device that lists previousdevices and their respective users that have either been granted ordenied access rights to the second device; and generating aprobabilistic model that estimates likelihoods using, as training data,respective degrees of interaction and creation times associated with therespective users that have either been granted or denied access rightsto the second device; and estimating, using the probabilistic model, thelikelihood based on the degree of interaction and the creation time. 8.The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the access rights for thesecond device to the first device further comprises automaticallytransmitting the access rights for the second device to the first devicein response to determining that the individual has entered theenvironment.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising automaticallytransmitting the access rights for the second device to the first devicein response to detecting speech, from the second user, referencing thecontent of the media asset.
 10. The method of claim 1, whereintransmitting the access rights for the second device to the first devicefurther comprises: automatically establishing a peer-to-peer connectionbetween the first device and the second device; retrieving the accessrights for the second device, wherein the access rights allow access tomedia content on the second device; and sending the access rights to thefirst device through the peer-to-peer connection.
 11. A system forseamlessly connecting to a user's device in order to share and display amedia asset featuring an individual closely related to the user, thesystem comprising: control circuitry configured to: determine that afirst user, carrying a first device comprising profile information ofthe first user, has entered an environment of a second user; determinethat a media asset created by the first user at a creation time within athreshold period of time from the present time is stored on the firstdevice; determine whether the media asset comprises content featuring anindividual related to the second user; in response to determining thatthe media asset comprises the content featuring the individual relatedto the second user, transmit a discovery message to identify devices inthe environment; identify a second device in the environment based onthe discovery message; determine that the second user is authorized togrant access rights for the second device; receive, at the seconddevice, a request from the first device to connect and generate fordisplay, on the second device, the media asset; in response to receivingthe request: retrieve interaction data between the individual and thesecond user; determine a degree of interaction between the individualand the second user based on the interaction data; determine alikelihood that the second user will grant the access rights for thesecond device to the first user in order to view the media asset, basedon the degree of interaction and the creation time of the media asset;in response to determining that the likelihood is greater than athreshold, transmit the access rights for the second device to the firstdevice; and generate for display the media asset on the second device.12. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured, when determining whether the media asset comprises thecontent featuring the individual related to the second user, to:identify, using at least one of object recognition and voicerecognition, the individual in the media asset; determine an identifierof the individual using a media guidance database; in response todetermining the identifier of the individual, search the interactiondata of the second user for the identifier; and in response todetermining that the identifier of the individual is in the interactiondata of the second user, determine that the individual is related to thesecond user.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitryis further configured, when receiving, at the second device, the requestfrom the first device to connect and generate for display, on the seconddevice, the media asset, to: determine a length of the media asset;determine an amount of time that the individual is featured in thecontent of the media asset, with respect to the length of the mediaasset; determine whether the amount of time is greater than a prominencethreshold; and in response to determining that the amount of time isgreater than the prominence threshold, automatically initiate therequest at the first device to connect and generate for display, on thesecond device, the media asset.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein thecontrol circuitry is further configured, when determining the degree ofinteraction between the individual and the second user based on theinteraction data, to: determine, based on the interaction data, acommunication frequency between the individual and the second user,wherein the communication frequency represents how often the individualand the second user have communicated using electronic communications;and based on the communication frequency, determine the degree ofinteraction.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the control circuitryis further configured, when determining, based on the interaction data,the communication frequency between the individual and the second user,to: identify, from the interaction data, the electronic communicationsexchanged between the individual and the second user in a period oftime; determine a length of each electronic communication of theelectronic communications exchanged; determine a set of electroniccommunications, wherein the set of electronic communications comprisesof electronic communications whose respective lengths are greater than alength threshold; determine a number of electronic communications in theset of electronic communications; and based on the number of electroniccommunications, determine the communication frequency.
 16. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the threshold is a first threshold associated with afirst level of access to the second device, wherein the controlcircuitry is further configured, when transmitting the access rights forthe second device to the first device, to: determine that the likelihoodis less than a second threshold associated with a second level of accessto the second device, wherein the second level of access is greater thanthe first level of access; in response to determining that thelikelihood is less than the second threshold, transmit the access rightsassociated with the first level of access for the second device to thefirst device and restricting the first device from the access rightsassociated with the second level of access.
 17. The system of claim 11,wherein the control circuitry is further configured, when determiningthe likelihood that the second user will grant the access rights for thesecond device to the first user, based on the degree of interaction andthe creation time, to: retrieve a connection history of the seconddevice that lists previous devices and their respective users that haveeither been granted or denied access rights to the second device; andgenerate a probabilistic model that estimates likelihoods using, astraining data, respective degrees of interaction and creation timesassociated with the respective users that have either been granted ordenied access rights to the second device; and estimate, using theprobabilistic model, the likelihood based on the degree of interactionand the creation time.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein the controlcircuitry is further configured, when transmitting the access rights forthe second device to the first device to automatically transmit theaccess rights for the second device to the first device in response todetermining that the individual has entered the environment.
 19. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configuredto automatically transmit the access rights for the second device to thefirst device in response to detecting speech, from the second user,referencing the content of the media asset.
 20. The system of claim 11,wherein the control circuitry is further configured, when transmittingthe access rights for the second device to the first device, to:automatically establish a peer-to-peer connection between the firstdevice and the second device; retrieve the access rights for the seconddevice, wherein the access rights allow access to media content on thesecond device; and send the access rights to the first device throughthe peer-to-peer connection.